Tadpolefur's struggle
by Willowstorm of SkyClan
Summary: As a kit, Tadpolefur was brutally assaulted in an attack which leaves her scarred for life, not to mention jumpy and shy. As time passes, Tadpolefur is left with two choices: Keep running from what happened to her, or face it, and stop the cat who did this to her.
1. Prolouge and Allegiances

**Hi everyone! We have all the OC's so Tadpolefur's struggle is go! Two quick disclaimers: One: I don't own warriors, Erin Hunter does. Two: The only cats I own are Tadpolekit, Shadekit, Tansyfoot, Thornleap, and Smokestream. Every other cat are all done by generous OC donors, who's names are all down the bottom. With all that out the way, lets get into the story!**

 **Allegiances**

 **ShadowClan**

 **Leader:** Seedstar – brown she-cat with darker spots, paws, and tail-tip, and amber eyes

 **Deputy:** Stormfall – Tall and muscular dark grey she-cat with black mottling and one white paw with copper eyes

 **Medicine cat:** Stormbreeze - beautiful, tall, long-legged she cat, gray furred with amber eyes

Juniperfern – dark ginger she cat with striking pale green eyes

 **Warriors:** Marshstep – brown Tom with silver paws and green eyes

 **Apprentice, Flightpaw**

Lighteningrunner – beautiful, tall, long-legged, black furred with blazing gold eyes she cat

 **Apprentice, Owlpaw**

Fawnheart – Jet black she cat with green eyes

Juniperfang – she cat with short brown fur and dark brown eyes

 **Apprentice, Ashenpaw**

Ashclaw – Tom with dark brown fur and bright green eyes

Gorsewater – A light gray tom with white stripes and blue eyes

Brambleheart – oddly beautiful ginger tabby she catwith icy blue eyes and rounded ears

Sunfoot – gray tom with odd gold colored legs and has warm amber eyes; muscular

Aethernose – Pale grey tom with dark grey stripe running down his back and green eyes

Tigerpelt – Orange tom with black stripes and icy blue eyes

 **A** **prentice, Snookpaw**

Weaselfoot – Short haired, brown tabby tom with lighter muzzle, chest, underbelly, legs, and tail tip with amber eyes.

Frogeyes – Short haired, dark gray tom with large, yellow eyes.

Tigerfang – Large, muscular, dark brown tabby tom with scar on chest, torn ear, and yellow eyes.

Pinefrost – Beautiful, Long haired, brown tortoiseshell she cat with white splotches, light brown chest, underbelly, and paws with pine-leaf green eyes.

 **Apprentices:** Ashenpaw – light gray tabby she-cat with a lighter belly and blue eyes

Flightpaw – dark gray she-cat with amber eyes

Owlpaw – brown tom with darker spots, paws, tail-tip, and amber eyes.

Snookpaw – light golden-brown tabby she-cat with dark brown stripes and blue eyes

 **Queens:** Tansyfoot – black long haired she cat with green eyes (mother of Tadpolekit and Shadekit)

Cloudedwater – fluffy gray she-cat with blue eyes (mother of Puddlekit and Reedkit)

Graytail - Honey colored she cat with white chest, legs, and underbelly, as well as gray tail with brown eyes (mother of Honeykit)

Willowstorm – slim black she cat with gray stripes and has clear green eyes (pregnant)

 **Kits:** Tadpolekit – black she cat with green eyes and stripes on her tail

Shadekit – Dark grey long haired tom with green eyes as well as a lighter grey spot on his side

Puddlekit – Small-ish kit with a base of blue-gray and white dapples across her back, and a few under her eyes. She has silver paws and deep blue eyes

Reedkit – Average sized Tom with gray-brown fur and large blue eyes. Has silky fur and silver paws.

Honeykit – Honey coloured she cat with white, chest, legs, and underbelly

 **Elders:** Fallentree - Silver she cat with brown patches and amber eyes

Magnepelt – Mangy black-and-red tortoiseshell she-cat with heavily patched fur and red skin showing.

Darksun – black furred tom with amber eyes

 **WindClan**

 **Leader:** Quickstar - Short haired, long limbed, mottled ginger brown tabby tom with dark amber eyes

 **Deputy:** Thornleap – Large ginger tom with amber eyes and abnormal long claws

 **Medicine cat (s):** Featherhawk - ginger she-cat with a white underbelly and blue eyes

 **Apprentice, Deerpaw**

 **Warriors:** Falconwing – Lanky dark gray brown tom with long legs

Sparkstone – white she cat with golden flecks and golden eyes

 **Apprentice, Runningpaw**

Morningsky – Short haired, cream she cat with green eyes

Rockface – A dark brown handsome tom with green eyes

 **Apprentice, Darkpaw**

Pidgeonfeather – Short haired, gray and white mottled tom with blue eyes.

Stepfrost – Light brown tom with white paws and ears with green eyes

Kestrelfur – dark gray she-cat with a white tail-tip and blue eyes

Timberleap – A pretty white she-cat with gray markings

Silverstrike – black with a silver stripe on back and blue eyes

Galestorm – Short haired, lithe gray tabby tom with green eyes

 **Apprentice, Swiftpaw**

Heatherstem – Pretty short haired, pale brown tabby she cat with white chest underbelly, paws and tail tip with soft heather blue eyes

Cherryleaf – Short haired, ginger tabby she cat with

Moorheart – Short haired, mottled gray and brown tom with green eyes.

Chivetail - Short haired, dark ginger tom with a long tail and green eyes.

Hickoryshade – Short haired, lithe, dark brown tom with reddish brown legs and amber eyes.

 **Apprentices:** Darkpaw – white she-cat with gray paws and muzzle and green eyes

Deerpaw – black tom with lighter gray stripes and yellow eyes

Runningpaw – Short haired, lithe, gray tabby tom with white chest and paws with yellow eyes

Swiftpaw – Pretty, short haired, white she cat with pale brown tabby splotches and tail with green eyes

 **Queens:** Fernmoon - black with silver stripes and green eyes (pregnant)

Rabbitfur – Pretty, short haired, light brown she cat with white chest and underbelly with amber eyes. (mother of Harekit, Dewkit, and Spottedkit)

 **Kits:** Harekit – Short haired, brown tabby tom with white chest, underbelly and hing legs with blue eyes.

Dewkit – Pretty, short haired, light gray tabby she kit with white chest, underbelly, and paws with green eyes.

Spottedkit – Pretty, short haired, pale tortoiseshell she kit with white chest and tail tip with amber eyes.

 **Elders:** Notail – Tall, slim, short-furred, brown tom.

 **ThunderClan**

 **Leader:** Swiftstar – sleek furred silver she-cat with brilliant blue eye and one long scar down her left flank

 **Deputy:** Firefur – ginger tom with a battle scarred pelt and leaf green eyes

 **Medicine cat (s):** Hazelheart – Pretty, haired, chocolate brown she cat with darker tabby swirls and blue eyes

 **Apprentice, Lichenpaw**

 **Warriors:** Froststorm - white and grey dappled she-cat with deep amber eyes

Blueclaw – Silvery tom with a white tail tip and amber eyes

Lionclaw - sleek golden furred tom with deep blue eyes

Ravencall – jet black, sleek, tom with bright blue eyes

Blackheart – black she-cat with white spot on chest and green eyes

 **Apprentice, Burningpaw**

Wildfire – Short haired, fiery ginger tabby tom with blue eyes

Logpelt – Dark brown tom with long, shaggy fur and dark green eyes with several scars.  
 **Apprentice, Skypaw**

Addertail – Black tabby tom with long tail and yellow eyes.

Ravenflight – Short haired, black tom with white chest, paws, and tail tip with yellow eyes and torn ear

Ashwind – Long haired, smoky gray tabby tom with flecks and amber eyes.

Rosefall – Beautiful, long haired, cream she cat with dark ginger splotches and leafy green eyes

Mousefoot – Short haired, dusky brown tabby she cat with a lighter tail and yellow eyes

Lionfur - Golden furred tom with extra thick fur around his neck and blue eyes

Clawfang – black tabby tom with green eyes

 **Apprentices:** Lichenpaw – light brown tabby tom with unusual red stripes and green eyes

Skypaw – Long furred, pale gray tabby she cat with blue eyes.

Burningpaw – Short haired, ginger tabby tom with darker stripe along back, dark ginger paws and tail with yellow eyes.

 **Q** **ueens:** Squirrelwhisker – Long furred, mottled, gray and brown she cat with a long, bushy, squirrel-like tail, and yellow eyes (mother of Thornkit, Blackkit, Duskkit, and Sweetkit)

 **Kits:** Thornkit – Short haired, brown tabby tom with spiky fur on tail and yellow eyes.

Blackkit – Short haired, dark gray tom with a black stripe along back and amber eyes.

Duskkit – Long furred, dark brown tabby tom with lighter underbelly and green eyes.

Sweetkit – Long furred, tortoiseshell she kit with ginger tail and blue eyes.

 **Elders:** Brokenjaw – Small light brown tom with darker tail, legs and face, with white paws and white chest.

Threefoot – A lithe, light brown she-cat with darker face, tail and legs. She is missing a hind leg.

 **RiverClan**

 **L** **eader:** Crystalstar – mottled light grey and white tabby she-cat with sparkling blue eyes (currently in nursery)

 **D** **eputy:** Shellstorm – large, dappled dark gray tom with yellow eyes and a torn ear

 **Medicine Cat (s):** Sandypool – Short haired, tan tabby she cat with dark yellow eyes.

 **Warriors:** Flamesplash – small lithe dark ginger she cat with a white underbelly, muzzle, tail tip and paws. She also has dark ivy green eyes

Applenose – White large bulky tom with dark ginger patches with a scar running down from his back to his right shoulder with icy blue eyes.

 **Apprentice, Sunpaw**

Willowtail – Long haired, light gray she cat with blue eyes.

Creekheart – Handsome blue gray tabby tom with white chest spot and blue eyes.

Silvermist - Beautiful, long haired, silver-grey she cat with dark gray tabby swirls, white chest, underbelly, and paws with bright blue eyes.

 **Aprentice, Hailpaw**

Stonefrost - Pure white tom with grey swirling stripes down his back and tail. Has amber eyes.

Lilypetal – Beautiful, long haired, dappled tortoiseshell she cat with white patches, chest, underbelly, and paws with light green eyes.

Lizardtail – Short haired, ginger tabby tom with a long tail and yellow eyes.

Otternose – Short haired, brown tom with lighter muzzle, chest, legs, and tail tip with amber eyes.

Mottledstone - long haired, mottled gray and brown tabby tom with green eyes and a scar on flank

Leapordleap – Pretty, long haired, golden brown she cat with unusual spots, lighter chest, underbelly and tail tip with golden eyes.  
 **Apprentice, Foxpaw**

Flyingtooth – Tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

Beaverfang – A massive dark brown tom with amber eyes

Rainfall – silver tabby she-cat with bright gold eyes

 **Apprentices:** Foxpaw – Pretty, long haired, dark ginger-brown tabby she cat with white chest, tail tip, and green eyes with bushy, fox-like tail.

Sunpaw – Short haired, bright yellow tabby tom with a shredded ear and amber eyes

Hailpaw – Short haired, dark gray tom with lighter patches and yellow eyes

 **Queens:** Crystalstar - mottled light grey and white tabby she-cat with sparkling blue eyes (mother of Emberkit, Springkit, and Moonkit)

Mistcloud – Long haired, pale blue gray she cat with feathery fur and green eyes (mother of Beechkit and Sedgekit)

 **K** **its:** Emberkit – Ginger tabby tom with white paws and green eyes

Springkit – Pale brown tom with even lighter brown feet and blue eyes

Moonkit – Silver tabby she-cat with white paws and belly with unusual violet eyes.

Beechkit – Short haired, brown tabby tom with yellow eyes.

Sedgekit – Pretty, long haired, pale brown she cat with darker tabby swirls, tan chest and underbelly, with green eyes.

 **Elders:** Scarface - Heavily scarred tom with light brown patches.

Thundermouth – An ear less, ancient tom with missing teeth.

Sheerain – Light gray she cat with patches of blue

 **WWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**

"I say these words before the body of Smokestream, so that the spirits of our warrior ancestors may hear and approve of my choice. The new deputy of WindClan will be Thornleap"

Thornleap looked up at Quickstar and tried to keep his mew steady and humble "Thank you, Quickstar. I promise to do the best I can."

"I expect nothing less" responded Quickstar "Now, it is nearly moonhigh. I am certainly ready to go to sleep, I will see you tommorow."

Cats around him began to file out and settle down to sleep. Thornleap didn't move, he was too overcome with emotions. He felt pride for his new position, and sorrow that Smokestream was no longer able to do it. He had liked the old deputy and was sorry too see greencough take him to StarClan.

But far more than pride or sorrow, he felt happy. He was only one step away from his dream; becoming a leader. Maybe that would be soon, maybe Quickstar would die soon and he would be leader. But for now, he was deputy. He deserved it. His battle skills were supreme, partially helped by his abnormally long claws. Many a cat had felt them scratch, and had fled from their bite.

Thornleap's thoughts turned what he should now do now that he was deputy. ShadowClan. It was time to take the fight to those prey stealing fox hearts. Yes, he wanted to make sure that WindClan's prey was WindClan's. He would make ShadowClan pay.

"Aren't you going to sleep?"

Thornleap nearly jumped into the clouds with fright. He had been so consumed by his thoughts that he hadn't noticed Morningsky behind him

"Rockface is on watch tonight" she continued "And I don't want our new deputy to be sleep deprived on his first day!"

There was only care in Morningsky's mew and Thornleap felt touched.

"Don't worry I'm coming" he said happily, found a spot, and slipped into a nice, deep, sleep.

 **Ta da! So, the prologue is complete! What do you think? Now, I'd like to thank my OC donors, who are:**

 **SomeoneI'mSure**

 **Lucky Where Dawn Begins**

 **Fala**

 **AviRay**

 **ASJ7**

 **ExplodingQuasar**

 **Fernmoon**

 **Nightstorm of TerraClan**

 **Guest**

 **.luna**

 **Swiftstar of ThunderClan**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars**

 **I-really-hope-not**

 **ChesnutpawOfDewClan**

 **XxIronmaniacxX**

 **A HUGE Thank you to everyone who donated. Now, please review, as they keep me going, and I will see you all in the next chapter!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! 8 reviews on my first chapter! *squeals* I mean, *ahem* *manly squeal* But seriously, thank you! This blows my expectations forreviews out of the water! Now, let us get onto the chapter!**

* * *

"WindClan are attacking!"

By Tadpolekit's side, Honeykit laid crouched beside her, determination sparkled in her eyes

"We'll get the fox hearts" she growled

Ahead of the two she-cats, Shadekit, Tadpolekit's brother let out a growl.

"WindClan wi-wi-will" the rest of his mew was cut off as a huge yawn escaped him.

"Come on Shadekit," Tadpolekit mewed. "We all promised to stay up until the cats from the gathering came back!"

"It's late, Tadpolekit! But yeah, you are right, I suppose," He stood up defiantly. "I will wait for the clan to come back from the gathering.

A new voice came in "Are you sure you don't want to go to your nests?" mewed Reedkit, his voice as soft as honey. "You she-cats look _so_ pretty when you are asleep"

Shadekit let out a _mrow_ of laughter, while Tadpolekit and Honeykit shared a look. They both knew that Reedkit never meant anything with his incessant flirting, but it got annoying when he insisted on doing it _all_ the StarClan forsaken time! To make matters worse, Shadekit always thought it was hilarious, which only encouraged Reedkit.

Tadpolekit was about to muster a retort when a fifth, more authoritative voice joined in. "I agree with Reedkit," said Aethernose, Tadpolekit and Shadekit's father. "You two should be asleep."

Tadpolekit was about to ask whether Aethernose agreed with Reedkit on the she-cats too, but Honeykit bet her to it before she could open her mouth.

"Cloudedwater and Tansyfoot are both at the gathering, and we are all interested in what happened there tonight!"

Tadpolekit felt a flash of envy for her mother, Tansyfoot, and Cloudedwater, Reedkit and Puddlekit's mother; they were allowed to wander around outside of camp and go to gatherings, while here she was, with cats debating whether she should be asleep or not! She then went back to listening to Aethernose

"That's all very well for Puddlekit, Reedkit, and Honeykit, they are five and four moons old! But you two are just two moons old! You two need your sleep!"

Tadpolekit stole a look at Puddlekit. The older kit was looking at Aethernose with a bored expression on her face, and hadn't said anything since Reedkit and Aethernose had come into the discussion

Tadpolekit was ripped out of her thoughts as Shadekit spoke up "Actually, we don't. We will need our sleep when we are apprentices, because then we will have training in the morning. But we don't have training in the morning, because we are kits, so we should enjoy our time when we don't need our sleep."

"Cheeky fur ball!" Exclaimed Aethernose, flicking his tail over Shadekit's ears affectionately. "Ah, Graytail. Good to see you. Can you help me to convince these two mouse brains that they need to go to sleep?"

Graytail's eyes swiveled over Tadpolekit and Shadekit. "Oh Aethernose, leave them be. They won't be kits for ever. Let them have their fun. Besides, they are interested in the affairs of the forest, what is wrong about that?"

Aethernose let out a long sigh. "I give up," he said, and walked away, muttering something under his breath along the lines of "You try to be a good father."

Honeykit did a happy bounce. "Thanks Graytail" she mewed happily, "I was afraid that they would make you go to your nests! I would have been left all alone out here, waiting for the cats who went to the gathering to come back!"

"There's always Reedkit and Puddlekit" teased Tadpolekit, noting that the two siblings had gone off and moved away from Honeykit, Tadpolekit, and Shadekit.

"Those two are no fun," responded Honeykit. "They act like they are apprentices already! Seedstar should go ahead and make them apprentices already so they get out of our fur!"

"Let's not complain about them," Shadekit suggested gently. "Let's do something instead"

"Mossball?" Tadpolekit advocated

"I'll get the moss!" Honeykit squeaked excitedly, as she raced across the clearing

As it became late, Shadekit, Honeykit and Tadpolekit felt the claws of tiredness dig deeper into their skin. Just as Tadpolekit was ready to suggest waiting to hear about the gathering tommorow, Seedstar, followed by her deputy Stormfall, and the rest of the cats who went to the gathering began to file into the camp.

Tadpolekit spotted Tansyfoot and Ashenpaw, her friend talking quietly together and she raced over to them, Shadekit and Honeykit hard on her heels.

"Ashenpaw! Tansyfoot!" Tadpolekit excitedly squeaked. "What happened at the gathering? Tell us everything!"

Tansyfoot looked down at her kits, love in her eyes "So you did stay up to wait to hear about the gathering"

"That doesn't matter!" mewed Shadekit. "What happened at the gathering?"  
Ashenpaw answered "WindClan have a new deputy – Thornleap is his name, and they accused us of prey stealing for the second moon in a row"

Honeykit let out a growl "Those pieces of mouse dung! I'll shred them!"  
"What else happened at the gathering?" asked Tadpolekit

"Crystalstar reported that RiverClan re-took Sunning Rocks" mewed Tansyfoot "You should have seen how fast the expression changed on Swiftstar's face! Now kits, you have stayed up long enough, so come with me to the nursery"

As the four cats wandered into the nursery Tadpolekit felt wave after wave of tiredness crash into her. As she climbed into her nest along with Shadekit and Tansyfoot, she couldn't help but feel anger, along with her tiredness, at WindClan.

"One day I'll show those rabbit eating fox hearts who's boss" mewed Tadpolekit quietly.

"Of course my dear" responded Tansyfoot, as she licked her kits fur "One day."

* * *

 **So, how about all of that sunshine and rainbows in one chapter? The real story picks in the next couple chapters. Once again, thank you for the reviews. I had a couple of really helpful ones where people pointed errors I had made in the prologue, as well as praise which is also nice.**

 **OK, I'm done babbling. Please review, they keep me going, and I'll see you next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! Guess what's back! Back again? Tadpolefur's struggle is back! Go tell your friends!**

* * *

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather underneath the Clanrock for a clan meeting!"

Tadpolekit blearily opened her eyes, and then shut them again. The light sprinkling into the nursery felt blinding, and too make matters worse, her eyelids felt as heavy as boulders. Next to her, a loud yawn told her that Shadekit felt exactly the same way.

 _I can't catch my own prey anyway_ thought Tadpolekit blearily _So there's no need for me to be at the meeting_

A mew from the exit to the nursery temporarily halted her voyage back into sleep. "Aren't you coming to the clan meeting?" asked Tansyfoot.

Tadpolekit just could not bothered. It was not that much to ask for some extra sleep. She snuggled in deeper into her moss while letting Shadekit answer.

"We can't go, we can't catch our own prey" mewed Shadekit tiredly

"I'm sure it will be fine as long as you are with me," mewed Tansyfoot. Tadpolekit heard Shadekit get up, presumably to go with her to the meeting.

"Tadpolekit?" inquired Tansyfoot.

"Let me sleep, I'm tired" murmured Tadpolekit quietly.

Suddenly, Tadpolekit felt the scruff of her neck being pulled and felt that she was no longer in her nest, but in the air. She opened her eyes to see that she was being carried to the clan meeting, dangling from her mother's mouth. Below her, Shadekit walked alongside them, as he struggled to contain his laughter. Looking ahead, Tadpolekit saw that they were the last ones to the clan meeting; the whole clan could see her being carried by her mother. After heartbeats that felt like moons, Tansyfoot sat down next Aethernose, whose whiskers twitched when he saw Tadpolekit. Then, at long last Tansyfoot set Tadpolekit down. She instantly gave her chest a series of furiously embarrassed licks. On the Clanrock, Seedstar noticed that the whole clan was here, and began the meeting.

"Clan mates," began Seedstar, "as you all know, for the second moon in a row, WindClan have accused us prey stealing."

"No cat that I know has stolen prey from WindClan," continued Seedstar, "nor have we seen a rabbit on the fresh kill pile for quite some time. But, prey stealing is not allowed, and WindClan seem determined to believe that we have stolen prey. If any cat has stolen prey, I would like to invite them to my den to privately talk to me about it. There will be no consequences involved, assuming the cat involved stops the prey stealing. It is nearly leaf-bare, so we cannot afford these hostilities to continue. That is all. Stormfall, would you please set the patrols?"

The clan dispersed, and the patrols left camp. Shadekit padded up to Tadpolekit.

"Do you really think one of our warriors has been stealing from WindClan?"

"Of course not!" snapped Tadpolekit. "ShadowClan warriors would never do such a thing! WindClan are making this all up!"

Despite Tadpolekit's harsh tone, amusement glittered in Shadekit's eyes. "Well, I guess that settles that the then," he mewed. "The estimate of one two moon old kit has decided that ShadowClan are not stealing prey. WindClan will certainly back down now."

Tadpolekit rolled her eyes."Stupid fur ball," she mewed. Let's go find Honeykit. I want a rematch of last nights moss ball game."

* * *

Shortly after Sunhigh, Tadpolekit and Shadekit were wrestling, when a border patrol, made up of Lighteningrunner, Gorsewater, Sunfoot, Brambleheart and Frogeyes ran into camp.

"Seedstar!" said an out of breath Lighteningrunner. "We discovered WindClan scent on our territory!"

Seedstar, who had been sharing tongues with Ashclaw, leaped up, fury evident in her amber eyes.

"Where?" she growled

"Close to the thunderpath, not too far off the carrion place," responded Gorsewater

"Is there any sign of prey stealing?" asked the ShadowClan leader

"It doesn't look like it," mewed Sunfoot. "It looks like it is just one WindClan warrior. There's no sign of scent marking either. It's just as if he or she is looking around."

Seedstar's face was etched with concern. She looked at Stormfall. "Put border patrols that would normally be on the ThunderClan border on the WindClan border."

"What if ThunderClan tries something?" asked Stormfall.

"Swiftstar has her own problems," mewed Seedstar. "She just lost Sunning Rocks to RiverClan, so her warriors are injured. She won't try anything."  
Seedstar looked at Lighteningrunner "Take me to where you found the WindClan scent." Lighteningrunner nodded, and the two she-cats left camp.

Tadpolekit and Shadekit watched enviously as Seedstar and Lighteningrunner left camp. Suddenly, Tadpolekit felt a surge of anger, which engulfed her like a caterpillar in a cocoon.

"Our leader can be a mouse brain sometimes!" she exclaimed.

Shadekit looked at her calmly, although Tadpolekit could see surprise flickering in his green eyes.

"What makes you say that?"

"We've got a WindClan accusing us of prey stealing, as well as an enemy warrior on our territory! The Clan needs everyone they can spare! We should be out there helping the Clan! If we were out there the clan could perhaps spare some patrols on the ThunderClan border!"  
Shadekit looked surprised at the hard edge in her mew, but understanding began to fill his green eyes.

"You're right Tadpolekit," Shadekit mewed. "Stormfall is still in camp, maybe we could ask her what she thinks?"

"Forget it," Tadpolekit growled "She's too blind to realize that the clan needs us more than ever."

"She's the clan deputy," Shadekit mewed "I'm sure she's at the very least thought about it."

"Then what do you think she will say?" mewed Tadpolekit. Shadekit was silent and looked down at his paws. "Thought so. The clan will realize how much they need us when we bring back a few mice, or, even better, chase off that WindClan warrior! I have a plan on how to sneak out of camp. This is what we will do..."

* * *

 **Oh, Tadpolekit. It was quite fun to write her thinking she knew better than the clan leader and deputy. Once again, thank you for the reviews. I got pointed out some grammar errors which was helpful, I've corrected chapter 1 accordingly. I also got referenced to one of Erin Hunters new series, Bravelands, as well as praise, also nice. Anyway, please review, they keep me going. See you next chapter!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone! Welcome back to Tadpolefur's struggle! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!**

* * *

"Honeykit!" mewed Tadpolekit excitedly. "Wake up! Remember our plan!"

Honeykit blearily opened her eyes, and closed them again. But then, once again, her eyes opened and this time they were wide and blazing with excitement. On Tadpolekit's other side, Shadekit stirred. After some badgering from the other two kits, he was up and about. With all three kits awake, they prepared to leave the nursery, when, all of a sudden, there was a tail in the way.

"Well, this is a change from yesterday," said Tansyfoot. "Yesterday you had to be dragged out of your nest, today you're up very early."  
"Less chance for me to be dragged out of my nest." responded Tadpolekit.

"Well, if we can avoid that again, I'm all for it" mewed Tansyfoot, and took her tail out of the kits way.

The kits burst out of the nursery and into the early morning sunlight. Stormfall was getting ready to set the patrols, with most of the warriors and apprentices waiting on her. Tadpolekit began looking for Juniperfang, but Honeykit was one step ahead of her and was already racing toward the brown-furred warrior. Tadpolekit and Shadekit quickly followed her.

"Juniperfang!" mewed Honeykit. "Will you play with us?"  
Juniperfang looked surprised, though pleased at the attention she was getting from the kits. "I'm not sure," The brown tabby looked up at Stormfall. "Am I needed on patrol?"

Stormfall looked at the kits crowding Juniperfang. "What, wouldn't you rather play with me?" she teased.

Tadpolekit felt a sudden bout of panic. _Not Stormfall!_ _The plan won't work with her! Only Juniperfang!  
_ Stormfall saw the disappointment and shock in Tadpolekit's eyes, and let out a _mrow_ of laughter. "I see, being deputy has made me so boring that even the kits don't want to play with me," her voice became serious. "Juniperfang, we will take you out on the Sunhigh border patrol. Enjoy playing with the kits. A privilege that apparently only some of us get." With that Stormfall turned away from the kits and continued sorting the patrols.

"Wow," mewed Juniperfang "I didn't think she would let me stay, considering the tension we are currently having with WindClan. So, what do you want to play?"

"Can we play moss ball? The previous two were warm ups!" Tadpolekit asked.

"Sure" responded Juniperfang, and all three kits were instantly racing towards the moss.

* * *

The three kits were very active, and managed to wear Juniperfang out quite quickly.

"All right, I'm taking a short rest. We will play some more soon, but absolutely no messing about while I'm out, OK?" she finished sternly. After three heads nodded, Juniperfang sprawled out on the ground.

After Juniperfang looked like she was asleep, Tadpolekit and Shadekit sidled up to Honeykit, who had been batting a leaf around.

"Now's our chance," she hissed. "You go out first, we will follow you when it's safe."

"OK" mewed Honeykit quietly back, and the honey coloured she-cat walked hesitantly up to the exit from camp. Juniperfang was still sprawled out on the ground, and hadn't noticed her yet. Honeykit looked uncertainly back at Tadpolekit and Shadekit. Tadpolekit flicked her tail at the exit, as if to say _go!_

Honeykit nodded, and began to head out the exit and into ShadowClan territory. Suddenly, Juniperfang jumped up and ran towards Honeykit, grabbing her scruff, and hauling her back into the camp.

"Honeykit, you know you can't leave camp until you are six moon old and an apprentice!"

Tadpolekit continued quietly watching Honeykit get told off, until Juniperfang's full attention was directed at the rebellious kit.

"Go!" she whispered to Shadekit and her brother quickly, though slow enough not to draw attention to him, whisked down the dirt place tunnel. After a brief check to see that Juniperfang's attention was still on Honeykit she followed her brother down the dirt place tunnel.

* * *

After a quick but smelly jog through the dirt place tunnel, the two kits found themselves, for the first time, not in ShadowClan's camp, but in ShadowClan's territory!

"Wow," mewed Shadekit, his green eyes filled of amazement. "The territory is so big! But I feel bad for Honeykit. She had to be the bait."  
"I know," said Tadpolekit sadly. "Juniperfang watches the cat like a hawk. Juniperfang had to catch her so we could sneak out. I feel bad for her."

"Want to race to thunderpath?" asked Shadekit

"How do you know where the thunderpath is?" wondered Tadpolekit

"We are surrounded by the thunderpath on all sides mouse brain!" teased Shadekit

"Well, you need to beat me!" mewed Tadpolekit before taking off, leaving Shade kit several tail lengths behind

"No fair, you had a head start!" said Shadekit before taking off after his sister

As it was her first time out of camp, Tadpolekit had no idea how far away the thunderpath was. But she did know her legs were definitely getting tired. She was almost glad when she saw something that made her do an emergency stop.

"Whoa!" she stopped right in front of a very menacing rock. It stuck out of the ground and had a very sharp edge which protruded out into the air quite far.

"Wow, that is one nasty looking rock," commented Shadekit. Suddenly. His ears pricked and eyes widened.

"Lizard!" he mewed, and took off chasing it.

Tadpolekit rolled her eyes and suppressed laughter as she watched her hare-brained brother chase the lizard deeper into the into the woods. He was acting like a kit on his first venture out of the nursery! They were two moons old, and they needed an air of... maturity here.

She turned away from her brother, who was still chasing the lizard, and she suddenly found her self face to face with a large ginger warrior. And she didn't recognise him, and given the yucky smell on him, he smelled like WindClan! With a bit of fox dung added in.

"You!" Tadpolekit hissed and she slid out her claws. The ginger warrior moved quickly. He shot down and grabbed Tadpolekit's scruff, hauling her up into the air, much like Tansyfoot had yesterday. Tadpolekit vainly tried to scratch him, but he was just to far away.

The warrior tilted is head so Tadpolekit, in his mouth, was right next to the sharp pointed rock. He moved his head forward so that the sharp end of the rock was now digging into her side. She felt pain, then more pain and then, there was a faint _pop_ she felt hot blood stream down her side. With the stone drawing blood, the WindClan warrior moved his head, bringing Tadpolekit with him. The stone was still running down the length of her body, and drew more blood, creating a large, long, ugly gash dripping blood down Tadpolekit's side. Then he opened his mouth wide enough so that Tadpolekit, barely conscious, fell in a heap on the ground.

The warrior leaned down to where Tadpolekit was lying and put his mouth next to Tadpolekit's ear.

"You won't tell anyone what happened here. If you do, I will kill everyone close to you. Don't think I can't see your brother deeper in the woods. I'll kill him. Your mother, Tansyfoot? She will die too. If you blab, their blood will be on your paws." With a whisk of his tail, the warrior turned and headed away.

Tadpolekit was struggling to stay conscious, but she had still managed to hear and comprehend what the WindClan warrior had said. But now, the claws of unconsciousness were closing in on her, and she was scared. With all her remaining strength she managed to raise her head and called out a name.

"Shadekit!" she screamed

* * *

 **So, yeah. That was pretty mean of that WindClan warrior. Poor Tadpolekit. And what will Shadekit do? I think I will have to create a running gag about Tadpolekit and moss ball.**

 **Once again, thanks for all the reviews! Please review, they keep me going, and I will see you all next time!**

 **Thanks!  
**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! *Insert funny joke here* Now, on with the show!**

* * *

Tadpolekit blearily opened her eyes. For a moment she was utterly confused. Why wasn't she in the nursery? Where was Tansyfoot and Shadekit? Looking around some more, she could see piles of herbs in cracks in the wall. This must be the medicine cat's den. She had never really properly been in here before; herbs and berries held little interest for her. Shadekit and Honeykit had once messed up all the herb stocks in here, and had got punished by Tansyfoot. But where was Shadekit? And what had happened after she was attacked?

"You're up," mewed a friendly voice from the other end of the den. "Juniperfern, get Tansyfoot and Shadekit in here, and then go into the forest and get Aethernose."  
Tadpolekit turned to see Stormbreeze, one of the two medicine cats

"You gave us quite the scare there, little one," she said, her voice soft and comforting. "How is your wound there?"

For the first time since waking up, Tadpolekit acknowledged the gnawing pain in her side. A brief flashback to how she had got it, with the WindClan warrior holding her in his mouth against the rock reminded her how why she had it, and scared her to bits, as she remembered what the warrior had said, threatening to kill her family.

"It hurts" mewed Tadpolekit shakily. She was so, so, scared. What if she said the wrong thing and ended up causing that WindClan warrior to come back and finish her off after taking out her family?

Suddenly, there was a thundering of paws as Tansyfoot and Shadekit rushed in, followed quickly by Juniperfern, Stormbreeze's old apprentice.

"My kit!" Tansyfoot piratically threw herself onto her kit, and began licking her ears affectionately followed by a groom of Tadpolekit's pelt. Tadpolekit, self consciously flattened herself on the ground, but Tansyfoot took no notice.

"Juniperfern," said Stormbreeze "I need you to go into the forest and find Aethernose. I think he went hunting to try and work off some of his energy." Juniperfern nodded, and left the medicine den.

"How did you find me?" asked Tadpolekit. She noticed Shadekit close his eyes before he opened his mouth to speak. The memories he must be having….

* * *

 ***Flashback from Shadekit's POV***

"Shadekit!" went his sister's scream.

Shadekit froze. His sister would _never_ scream like that unless something _really_ bad was happening. Stopping his playful search for the lizard, he sprinted back to where he had last seen Tadpolekit. After a frantic run, he found her, unconscious, lying next to that sharp edged rock with a pool of blood welling around her. There was also a hint of fox dung in the air.

Shadekit began to panic. How was he supposed to heal her? He wasn't a medicine cat! Desperately he put his paws on the long cut of which the blood was streaming out of. But the cut was just to long! He began to screech at the top of his lungs for help.

"Aethernose! Tansyfoot! Seedstar! Anyone!"

After a couple of heart beats, and some more desperate calling for help, a patrol, led by Fawnheart, with Juniperfang, Tigerpelt, and their respective apprentices, Ashenpaw and Snookpaw quickly ran over to the two kits, one unconscious, bleeding out, the other, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

"Tadpolekit!" Ashenpaw raced over to her unconscious friend and tried to help stop the bleeding by putting her tail over the long wound. While it was long enough to cover the whole wound, she wasn't able to push it down hard enough to keep all the blood inside. Tadpolekit still bled.

"Snookpaw!" said Fawnheart "Go find Stormbreeze or Juniperfern now!" Snookpaw nodded, and raced off.

"I think it's cobwebs for bleeding," Fawnheart shakily mewed. "I'll go see if I can find some." The black she-cat whisked off into the forest.

Juniperfang pushed Ashenpaw's tail off Tadpolekit's wound, replacing it with her own, while, at the same time shooting Shadekit a dirty glance. Shadekit felt a wave of anger hitting him. _I know alright! We shouldn't be out of camp!_ _I'm being punished enough right now, thanks!_ Despite the dirty look, the blood leaking from Tadpolekit's body had stemmed to a slow trickle.

"Is it true?" asked an out of breath Juniperfern, followed by Stormbreeze. "How hurt is she?"

Juniperfang lifted her tail and Shadekit closed his eyes. He didn't want to see what had happened to his amazing sister. Stormbreeze's gasp reminded him, and he squeezed his eyes even harder shut.

"We are going to need a lot of cobwebs for that." mewed Stormbreeze softly.

"I have some!" panted Fawnheart. Shadekit opened his eyes to see Fawnheart with a couple small cobwebs stuck to the fur on her side.

Stormbreeze took the cobwebs off Fawnheart's side and moved Juniperfang's tail out of the way. The cobwebs covered about half of the wound, requiring Juniperfang to still keep her tail on some of the wound. Stormbreeze flicked her tail, annoyed.

"It's not enough," she growled. "We don't have enough cobwebs to cover the wound fully. And I'm not sure how long Juniperfang's tail can keep the blood inside her.

"We have extra cobwebs in our den." mewed Juniperfern softly.

Stormbreeze turned to her. "She might not survive the journey if she is being moved."

At the word "survive" Shadekit felt a wave of sickness crash over him. While he had known all along that there was a chance that Tadpolekit might die, the fact that the more experienced cats had not mentioned this crushed the tiny piece of hope that injuries like this were common, and that cats always survived this. His mind flicked back to reality when he heard Juniperfern speak.

"She is going to die anyway if we keep her here," the dark ginger she cat mewed. "Juniperfang's tail is soaking up too much of the blood rather than keeping it inside." Stormbreeze's tail thumped loudly on the ground as she realized their only choice. She looked sadly at Juniperfern and nodded wordlessly. The two she cats picked up the little body as gently as could and began to head back to camp.

The journey was the most somber of Shadekit's life. Fawnheart and the rest of the patrol, with the exception of Ashenpaw, who wanted to stay with her injured friend, had sped back to camp to warn the clan, but, the short walk to camp, was spent in a very depressed silence. All Shadekit could think about was the worst case scenario. If she died…. But he kept his eyes fixed on his sister's flank, and for now, he could see the very shallow movement of breathing. But it was so shallow, so hard to see….

Eventually, the four cats got to camp, and the cats that were in camp stared at them wide eyed with the tragedy that had happened. Tansyfoot was out on a walk with Willowstorm, and hadn't yet been alerted of what had happened, and neither was Aethernose, who was on a hunting patrol. The cats made it into the medicine den, and Ashenpaw and Shadekit sat down and watched the medicine cats work, and watched the unconscious Tadpolekit, willing her to be OK. Soon, Tansyfoot and Aethernose had arrived, and joined them in their somber, silent, watch. A day passed, and Aethernose went hunting to work off his energy; he had been pacing all night. Tansyfoot was offered prey, and refused, while Shadekit didn't want to suckle. Ashenpaw nibbled halfheartedly on a frog, before putting it back and leaving to go join a patrol. They were persuaded to go for a short walk around camp by Juniperfern, but Shadekit could only think _Will she ever wake up?_

 ***End of flashback***

* * *

"That's how we found you," finished Shadekit. "But there is one thing that I don't understand. How did you end up injuring yourself so badly?" Tansyfoot and Stormbreeze nodded, showing their curiosity.

Tadpolekit froze up. What if she said the wrong thing? She definitely couldn't tell them the truth. That WindClan warrior had made things very clear that he would kill his mother and brother, and probably more who she cared about if she talked. She simply had to lie.

"I saw a butterfly floating above me and I tried to catch it. But my leg gave out as I tried to jump making me land very awkwardly, and as I fell, my skin got cut on that sharp rock."

"Now you know why we don't let kits out of camp." said Stormbreeze

"How should she feed?" asked Tansyfoot. "She can't yet move back to the nursery."

"You are going to have to feed and sleep in here until she is better. Graytail or Willowstorm, when she has her kits can feed Shadekit. We should probably get them both on fresh-kill as soon as possible."

As Tansyfoot and Stormbreeze continued to talk, Tadpolekit became bored. Her mind found its self back at the ginger WindClan warriors words of threatening to kill her. How could she ever be happy with his words hanging over her head? Why hadn't he just killed her? Terror gripped her as Tadpolekit realized that life would never be the same again.

* * *

 **I'd like to apologize for the long wait in getting this to you. Sorry about. Updates will be irregular, but they won't take as long as it did this time. Also, if you are wondering what my fanficton name (Willowstorm) is doing in the story, one of my OC donors gave it to me without realizing. They've apologized, but I don't really mind. I'm going to be sad if I have to kill her off though. And it is kind off odd that she is pregnant in the story when in real life I'm male. Also, did you enjoy Shadekit's POV?  
**

 **I'd also like to apologize to you for putting both Juniperfern and _Juniperfang_ in the same part of a chapter. I'll avoid that in the future.**

 **Thanks for all of the reviews! Please review, they keep me going, they keep me going, and I will see you next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi everyone! We're skipping forward two moons as Tadpolekit is stuck in the medicine den during that time. Now, lets dig into the chapter!**

* * *

"Ashclaw, I call on you for your first apprentice. You have shown confidence and bravery when a situation calls for it, and I trust that you will pass these skills onto Honeykit, who has reached her sixth moon, and is now Honeypaw, apprentice of ShadowClan" meowed Seedstar loudly to the clan, before starting the chant.

"Honeypaw! Honeypaw!"

Tadpolekit cheered her friends name, despite feeling an aching pain of sadness in her belly, as she realized that Honeypaw was not going to be in the nursery when she got out of the medicine den and returned to the nursery. The honey coloured she cat had forgiven Tadpolekit and Shadekit for using her as the bait when she they had sneaked out camp, and she had been nice enough to visit Tadpolekit every now and then. But now, she was an apprentice and she would have a lot less time on her paws. The sadness increased as she watched Honeypaw touch noses with Ashclaw before walking out of camp. It felt like all the changes in ShadowClan had happened while she was in the medicine den. Tadpolekit briefly tried to recount them all...

The apprentices den was beginning to get cramped, from what Tadpolekit heard from Ashenpaw. Snookpaw had become Snookwing and moved to the warriors den, but now, Reedpaw, Puddlepaw, and most recently Honeypaw all made their nests in the apprentices den. This was annoying for the bigger and older Ashenpaw, Owlpaw and Flightpaw. And more apprentices were on the way. Tadpolekit and Shadekit only had two moons to go before their apprentice ceremonies, and, Willowstorm had given birth to Jaykit, Robinkit, and Cardinalkit, who were now one moon old, and annoying pests; constantly running through through the camp, getting in the way, caterwauling when she was trying to rest. And how could someone be so _happy?_ Had there ever been a time where she had been that care free, not having the threat of everyone she cared about dying?

Now in a bad mood, Tadpolekit stormed back inside the medicine den, and flopped down onto her moss. Feeling a bout of hunger all of a sudden, she stomped outside, and grabbed a shrew from the fresh-kill pile, and began to tear into it with more frustration and anger than hunger. She was glad she was now off milk, she could not drink Tansyfoot's milk quite so angrily without hurting Tansyfoot, and even if she didn't care about that, it still didn't work quite so well.

Once the shrew was gone, she sank back down into her nest and did what she had done best for the best the past two moons: stare at the wall and wait for her wound to get better. Frustration as powerful as a tiger ebbed up inside her. _How long will I be cooped up in this StarClan forsaken den!_

"Tadpolekit. May I check on your wound?"

Tadpolekit nearly jumped several fox-lengths. She had been so engrossed in her anger that she hadn't noticed Stormbreeze come into the den. She had tried to talk as little as possible since the attack, always afraid of saying the wrong thing. But now she needed to respond to Stormbreeze. She nodded briefly, and Stormbreeze began nosing around her wound. Tadpolekit watched her and did the exercises Stormbreeze told her to. She looked down at the long wound were she had been pressed against the rock. Or at least, the general area where it had happened. Her fur had grown back and she no longer felt much pain when Stormbreeze applied pressure to it.

Stormbreeze finished and went deeper into the den, staying there without talking to Tadpolekit for far too many heart beats. Frustration ebbed up in her until she could stand it no longer.

"When am I ever going to return to the nursery!" she blurted out.

Stormbreeze returned back to Tadpolekit's part of the medicine den, giving her tail an annoyed flick.

"You will leave when I say you can," she growled. "And I was about to tell you that I will get Juniperfern to check you, and then you probably can go. Can't wait for it to happen; you won't be bothering me."

Tadpolekit instantly felt small and sorry that she had gotten impatient. She knew Stormbreeze only wanted the best for her. It was unfair of her to be rude. Feeling bad, she curled up into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could. She didn't want any cat seeing her when she had been so stupid.

Juniperfern came into the den slightly later and briefly checked her wounds, while Tadpolekit meekly and silently went along with it. After a few heartbeats of uncertainty, Juniperfern nodded.

"You can go back to the nursery now. Let me or Stormbreeze know if your wound starts hurting again. Enjoy your kit-hood."

Tadpolekit gave a shy nod of thanks to the dark ginger she-cat, before slowly and uncertainly padded toward the nursery. She was greeted enthusiastically by Shadekit and Tansyfoot and responded in a happy and kind voice, but she wasn't happy and wasn't listening to her mother and brother. She felt depressed. All she had wanted to do for the last two moons was to get out of the medicine den, but now that she was, the long claws of terror were closing around her. Though she hadn't realized it, the medicine den had been her sanctuary, her safe place. She was never going to feel entirely safe again, out in the real world. One day, she was going to have to face that WindClan warrior again.

* * *

 **That chapter was pretty much a filler to show the change in Tadpolekit's personality. Also, next chapter there will be another time skip to Tadpolekit's apprentice ceremony, as everything that I planned to happen her while she was a kit has happened.**

 **There will also be a slightly longer break than normal for chapter 6, as I am going to take a brief break from this story to write a Purdy x Mousefur one shot that I have wanted to do for some time. It'll be called _The question he always wanted_ in case you want to read that. **

**Please review, they keep me going, and I'll see you next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone! I don't have any more plans for one shots or other stories in the near future, so full attention should be on this story from now on. Also, I thought that I might answer your reviews!**

 **Get ready for the story!**

* * *

"I can groom myself!"

 _That's up for debate_ thought Tadpolekit, watching Shadekit struggle to get away from Tansyfoot's tongue.

Two long moons had passed since Tadpolekit had got out of the medicine den. Yet, every time she felt happy, the WindClan warriors dark threat would return to her head. Shadekit had noticed that she seemed down a lot, and always tried to cheer her up. But this was counterproductive. Tadpolekit would then feel worse now that she knew Shadekit was working hard to try and return her to her old self. She didn't want Shadekit to work hard for nothing to happen. So she felt worse because now she realized that _she_ couldn't get back to her old self, meaning she felt more down. This meant that Shadekit would try even harder to cheer Tadpolekit up, which made Tadpolekit feel worse.

It wasn't a great cycle to be trapped in. At last Shadekit gave up on making her feel better. But that made it worse again, because it confirmed her theory that she was a lost cause. She was a kit, and couldn't help the clan. She was useless.

But watching Shadekit desperately trying to get away from Tansyfoot's tongue, Tadpolekit wondered But today, she was going to become an apprentice! She would no longer be useless! After Tadpolekit, Shadekit, and Tansyfoot were up and heading towards the fresh-kill pile, Seedstar had approached them and quietly told them Tadpolekit and Shadekit's apprentice's ceremonies were today. Since then, Tansyfoot had gone crazy trying to make sure that Tadpolekit's and Shadekit's pelts were just right Tadpolekit had gotten a brief lick by her mother, but Shadekit had been uncooperative with Tansyfoot, resulting in a drawn out saga as Shadekit desperately tried to escape Tansyfoot.

"There. You're done Shadekit." mewed Tansyfoot, bringing Tadpolekit out of her thoughts.

"I'm a long haired cat, Tansyfoot." protested Shadekit. "You can't groom me the same way you'd groom yourself or Tadpolekit!"  
"Hush dear." responded Tansyfoot, annoyance etching her mew, telling her kits that her patience was running thin. Shadekit stared pointedly at his feet, sulking. Tadpolekit shot him a sympathetic look.

"Let all cats gather beneath the Clanrock for a clan meeting!"

Tadpolekit saw Aethernose whisk out of the warriors den and sprint towards Tadpolekit, Shadekit, and Tansyfoot.

"Sorry I'm late!" gasped Aethernose as he sat down next to Tansyfoot, who let out a purr. "I was on guard duty last night. I didn't think the ceremony would be today!

In response, Tansyfoot purred something that Tadpolekit catch.

The clan was now gathered, and Seedstar addressed them.

"Tadpolekit, Shadekit, please come forward." As Tadpolekit walked up, shaking and feeling very conscious of all the eyes on her pelt, she noticed how calm and confident Shadekit looked. How could he! Didn't he notice that the whole clan was staring at them!

"Shadekit," mewed Seedstar, and Tadpolekit quickly snapped her gaze onto the ShadowClan leader. "You have reached your sixth moon and are now ready to become an apprentice of ShadowClan. Thus, from this day forward, your name shall be Shadepaw. Frogeyes, you are strong and thoughtful warrior, and I hope you will pass these skills onto Shadepaw."  
Shadepaw walked up and touched noses with his new mentor. _It's my turn next_ thought Tadpolekit. Her nerves were playing up badly, and she was shaking uncontrollably. But slowly, she walked up to the Clanrock and faced Seedstar.

"Tadpolekit. From this day forward, until you get your warrior name, your name shall be Tadpolepaw. Weaselfoot, you are an experienced and loyal warrior, and I trust you to show Tadpolepaw everything you know."

Tadpolepaw walked forward and awkwardly touched noses with Weaselfoot.

"I-I promise I'll try my best." Tadpolepaw stammered, trying to sound confident.

"I expect nothing less." the brown-colored warrior mewed warmly

The clan was now looking at Stormfall, who was setting the patrols, no longer paying attention to the two new apprentices.

"What are we doing first?" Tadpolepaw asked

"I thought I would show you the territory." answered Weaselfoot

Tadpolepaw's mind instantly flitted back to the sharp rock where the WindClan warrior had injured her. If they were just looking at the territory, then, that rock was probably a landmark and they were likely to pass it. But how could Tadpolekit utter a complaint? Instead, she just wordlessly nodded to her mentor.

* * *

The long expanse of the thunderpath lay before Tadpolepaw. Weaselfoot had shown her a couple of good hunting places and other landmarks, but Tadpolepaw's head was spinning slightly as she tried to remember them all. _How can I possibly be expected to remember all of this! This whole forest looks almost exactly the same!_ She had been focusing hard on remembering, and didn't notice where she was going. All of a sudden she was wandering onto the thunderpath. Or, she would have had it not been for Weaselfoot's tail, keeping her back. Now, she had to try and keep all of that in her head while listening to Weaselfoot. But, all of a sudden, she was staring across the thunderpath at the WindClan border.

She lost track of the landmarks in her head. She lost track of whatever Weaselfoot was saying. All she could think about was the smell of that WindClan scent, the scent of that the cat who had injured her. Horror engulfed her as she realized that all of a sudden, she was going to be out of camp a lot, probably marking this border. The clans were rivals, and a fight between WindClan and ShadowClan would happen soon. When it did, she and that WindClan warrior would probably end up fighting. And what reason would he have not to finish the job which he had started when he shoved her up against that rock? He could easily make it look like an accident that had happened in the heat of battle. Fear's icy fangs began to gnaw on her. She wasn't safe. She had felt this way when she got out of the medicine den, but that was different. There were still two long moons before she would have to leave camp. Now, she could be killed at any moment.'

* * *

That could truth hung in her mind as she finished exploring the territory. Soon she and Weaselfoot were back at camp and the clan was settling down as sky turned black and the stars came out. She felt a flash of gratefulness to Weaselfoot as she realized that they had avoided the rock that she had gotten injured on. To him, it was just where she had a nasty fall chasing a butterfly, but she was still gratefull.

"Tadpolepaw!" came a squeak from Ashenpaw. "I found you a nest in the den."  
Tadpolepaw forced herself to smile "Thanks Ashenpaw," she mewed. "Where is it?"

"Let me show you." mewed Ashenpaw, and Tadpolepaw followed her into the den. The only cat in the den was Owlpaw, Ashenpaw's brother, who was awake.

"Hi Tadpolepaw," he mewed. "We made you a nest here, next to mine, Ashenpaw's and Honeypaw's."

"Thanks." she mewed softly, taken aback by their kindness.

The night wore on, and soon the apprentice's den was filled with sleeping apprentices. But Tadpolepaw lay awake, worrying about the WindClan warrior. But then, another claw of terror touched her. What if the WindClan warrior slowly killed everyone she cared about? Not just her family, but her friends as well? He would slowly pick them off, one by one until he finally came for Tadpolepaw last? She began to shiver with fear. _What kind of cat would hurt an innocent kit! What reason would he have to do that?_ She yowled silently in her mind. Suddenly, her head shot up. _What kind of reason would he have for that?_ She thought again, her fear subsiding slightly for a bit of curiosity, wondering what nasty motive a cat could have to try and kill a kit, which was against the warrior code?

* * *

 **Guys, I'm so sorry about the huge wait. I'll have the next chapter within the week, I promise. Anyway, Tadpolepaw is now an apprentice, events are going to start picking up reasonably quickly. Anyway, here are the reviews!**

 **Maple Dapple: Yay! Glad that you are enjoying it!**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: That would be interesting. Can't say I'm sure myself who would win if it was 1v1.**

 **I-really-hope-not: Yeah, but she has no idea what the WindClan's warrior's abilities are like, or whether he has the backing of WindClan or not, and whether being revealed would deter the WindClan warrior or not. Finally, I can't have her tell Seedstar because of plot convince.**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Thank you!**

 **Please keep reviewing, reviews keep me going, and I will see you all next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hi everyone! I'm starting to run out of jokes to put my starting Authors Notes, so no joke to day, just story.**

* * *

Four days passed, and Tadpolepaw began to settle into apprentice life. She now had something to do with her time. She learned to hunt and had even caught a couple of frogs, and learned a couple of basic fighting moves. While the WindClan warrior's threat continued to hang in her mind, hunting or fighting kept her mind off him. It was when she was bored that his threat would appear. So, she decided to take on as many roles as she could in the clan to help out to keep her mind off that WindClan warrior.

Tadpolepaw was sharing a starling with Owlpaw when she heard a large amount of clamor coming from the other side of the camp. It looked like Shadepaw was arguing with Frogeyes. Their voices became louder and louder until the whole camp could hear their argument.

"But I don't want to clean out the elders den!" protested Shadepaw "Some other cat can do that! I want to go on a patrol with Honeypaw!"

Tadpolepaw then heard the quieter, yet strained, voice of Frogeyes.

"You're acting like a kit. Every apprentice has to clean the elders den at some point, quite frankly, you're lucky you've avoided it so far. Now go clean the den."  
"But there is so many more helpful things I could do!" cried Shadepaw

This went on for a little longer, until Tadpolepaw could stand it no longer. Abandoning the starling, in a cloud of anger for her mouse-brained brother spoiling her meal, she stomped over to where the two were arguing.

"If it will shut you up, Shadepaw, than I will clear the elders den. Now go on your patrol with Honeypaw!"

Shadepaw looked shocked at the outburst she had made, but did not say anything, and instead meekly nodded his head and exited the camp to join Honeypaw's patrol, who had been watching the whole thing.

"Thanks," growled Frogeyes "He will clean the nursery tommorow, that, I will make sure of."

 _Oh great,_ thought Tadpolepaw, rolling her eyes, _we can have another scene tommorow._ She then wandered over to Weaselfoot, wondering how in StarClan she had managed the courage to yell at her brother in front of the entire clan.  
"It's OK if I clean the elders den, right?" she asked her mentor, suddenly realizing that she was only an apprentice and that there were decisions that were not hers. She wanted to be swallowed by the ground after making such a big scene.

"Yeah, it's fine," Weaselfoot mewed. "Just make sure you are well rested after you finish. There's a gathering tonight and I've been told that you are going to go." Tadpolepaw nodded, relieved that Weaselfoot did not have any problems, and went to gather moss.

* * *

Tadpolepaw collected moss until about Sunhigh, and it was not a job that she wanted to volunteer for again. It was painstakingly slow, and most of all boring. When she was finally done, she took all the moss to the elders den in a few trips and prepared to give the elders their new bedding. Of the three ShadowClan elders, Darksun, Fallentree, and Magnepelt, Darksun and Fallentree were in the den when Tadpolepaw arrived.

"Hi Tadpolepaw," mewed Darksun when she arrived. "Good to see that we've got you cleaning our bedding rather than that loud, mouse-brained brother of yours."

Tadpolepaw didn't respond. She didn't want to defend her brother, after he had been so, mouse-brained, and left her with this annoying job, and she didn't want to end up in an argument with her elders as well. So she just vaguely nodded.

"Shall we get out of the den and let you work?" offered Fallentree.

Tadpolepaw nodded and the two elderly cats slowly got out of the den and into the camp.

"It finally seems like the tensions between us and WindClan are peaceful again." commented Fallentree

Tadpolepaw felt a cold chill run down her spine. Ever since the WindClan warrior had attacked her, WindClan had backed off with the prey stealing accusations. It made Tadpolepaw wonder whether attacking her was all they had really wanted.

"Bah!" responded Darksun. "We and WindClan are like cats and dogs. Always destined to fight. They'll be accusing us of some other false accusation soon enough. Mark my words."  
"Have tensions ever been so bad?" wondered Fallentree

"There was the aftermath of the deathberry attack" mewed Darksun, his voice becoming lower.

Tadpolepaw's ears pricked up. She had never hear of the deathberry attack before.

"What happened during the deathberry attack?" she asked, fighting down a bout of nervousness. Where was the courage she had felt to yell at the entire clan earlier?

Darksun looked at the ground. "One of ShadowClan's darkest moments." He looked back up at Tadpolepaw again. "We're a proud clan, Tadpolepaw, we don't like to admit our mistakes."  
"But what happened?" Tadpolepaw pressed

"Tell her." mewed Fallentree encouragingly

Darksun closed his eyes and began his tale.

"It was several moons ago, before Seedstar was leader of ShadowClan. Anyway, we got news at a gathering that WindClan had launched an attack on RiverClan over some border dispute or another. RiverClan had retaliated and had launched several attacks of their own. You could be forgiven for calling it war."

"Our leader at the time, Acaciastar, like most of ShadowClan, felt that WindClan were in the wrong and were also sympathetic to RiverClan. We would have joined the battle on their side sooner then we planned to, but most of ShadowClan were still recovering from a nasty bout of whitecough, so we were a bit weak. But Acaciastar announced that we would attack within a few days.

"But one of our few healthy warriors, Lilacpelt, felt angrier at WindClan then most for some reason. She was a young warrior, and quite impatient. So she resolved to take matters into her own paws."

"What did she do?" asked Tadpolepaw, although she had a feeling that she knew what was coming.

"She caught several mice and pretended to offer them to WindClan as a gift, pretending to be sympathetic to WindClan, and understand their cause. WindClan gratefully accepted, as most of their warriors were stuck in battle rather than hunting. But what she didn't know was that Lilacpelt had stuffed each mouse full of deathberries."

"I don't know what death by deathberry looks like, Tadpolepaw, but I've heard enough from Stormbreeze that it isn't pleasant. Anyway, fortunately only one cat, her name was Duskflower, I think, ate one of the mice before WindClan figured out what was going on. Unfortunately, it was too late for her. She died. The WindClan medicine cat realized what the symptoms were and what had happened. So Lilacpelt was found out."

"Acaciastar was full of rage. Lilacpelt was instantly banished. I don't were she went. Some in the clan, say, or hope, that she was killed on the thunderpath. Others think she headed beyond highstones. I don't know. But she left us a mess to deal with. The war between WindClan and RiverClan stopped because of it, funnily enough, but WindClan were now angry at us. Acaciastar was forced to give WindClan hunting rights on our territory for a moon. It was humiliating, watching those filthy rabbit eaters hunt on our lands. I don't think Quickstar has ever properly forgiven us."

Tadpolepaw had stopped making the nests, and had been listening intensely to Darksun's story.  
"Wow." she softly mewed

"It's definitely a story that ShadowClan wants to forget." said Fallentree.

"I guess I better get back on the nests" Tadpolepaw mewed

* * *

After Tadpolepaw had finished with the nests, she went and had a nap in the apprentice's den. As Weaselfoot had said, she was going to the gathering. Shadepaw was also coming, along with Ashenpaw and Owlpaw. But not Honeypaw, much to Shadepaw's annoyance. But Shadepaw's protests were no match for Seedstar suggesting that Shadepaw clean the elders den and the nursery for the next moon, with no help from Tadpolepaw. So Shadepaw reluctantly went to the gathering without Honeypaw.

"Welcome to Fourtrees!" announced Ashenpaw happily

"The trees are pretty big, eh?" mewed Owlpaw

Tadpolepaw couldn't agree more. The four large oaks seemed to be as tall as the sky itself.

"It seems RiverClan are already here," observed Shadepaw, who seemed less interested in the trees than Tadpolepaw. "But ThunderClan and WindClan aren't."

Tadpolepaw had been so focused on the trees that she hadn't noticed the RiverClan cats. It was nearly leaf-bare, but the RiverClan cats seemed to still plump, their pelts glossy, from their rich diet of fish. Meanwhile her gaze shifted to the Great Rock, which Seedstar and the RiverClan leader, Crystalstar, sat on top of. It was just all so big.

"Ashenpaw!" A happy voice called out. From within the crowd of cats, the oldest cat Tadpolepaw had ever seen came out, a light grey RiverClan she cat. _She was probably around when those big oaks were saplings!_ Tadpolepaw thought.

"Hi Sheerain," mewed Ashenpaw warmly, touching noses with the RiverClan cat. "How runs the prey in RiverClan?"

"The river hasn't yet frozen over, so there is still fish to eat. And the apprentices are so good to me. You should have seen the carp that one of them brought me a couple of days ago….

Whatever else Sheerain was saying, Tadpolepaw didn't hear it. She soon saw the new arrivals at the gathering. And she had smelled their stench before. WindClan. Leading them, she saw the mottled ginger-brown tom that must be Quickstar, leader of WindClan. But the cat next to him turned his ginger head and looked at her.

Tadpolepaw froze.

She was staring at the WindClan warrior that had injured her.

* * *

 **You know, I always wondered why the tactic of hiding deathberries in prey was never used in the Warriors universe. Sure, its a pretty dishonorable and disgusting tactic, but there have been some pretty dishonorable and disgusting cats in the Warriors universe.**

 **Reviews…**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Thank you! Although I'm not sure what you mean by one-shots. I said I didn't have anymore planned, at least for the foreseeable future.**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: Thank you. That really means a lot to me. I feel sorry for her as well, although apprenticeship seems to have helped her out a bit.**

 **Maple Dapple: Thank you! And I will!**

 **I-really-hope-not: Ha! Love that add on to that saying. I especially chose Weaselfoot to be her mentor, as his personality seems to fit best with Tadpolepaw.**

 **ExplodingQuasar: Yeah, PTSD will play a big factor in this story. Thanks for adding their age, that helps me out with the timeline. For Flightpaw, I _think_ she will appear in the next chapter. However, I don't have as much plans for her as I do for Ashenpaw and Owlpaw. **

**That's it! Thank you all for the reviews so much! And please keep them coming, as they keep me going and I will see you all next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone! So here I am again, writing a starting authors note, which really isn't needed.**

* * *

For every other cat at the gathering, there was no snow, no ice, as it was not yet leaf-bare. But for Tadpolepaw, ice shot into her paws, leaped into her blood and froze her, right then and there.

She just couldn't move. As she locked eyes with the cat which had ruined her life, the cat that had threatened to kill her, tiny earthquakes hit her, making her shake in fear. A loud buzzing noise started, blotting out all sound. Terror gripped, the buzzing became worse, she just wished the ground would swallow her….

"Tadpolepaw!"

Tadpolepaw regained control of her body, and turned her head to see Shadepaw, Owlpaw, Ashenpaw, and another cat that she didn't know all looking at her strangely.

"Er… I wanted to introduce you to Deerpaw," said Ashenpaw, flicking an ear towards the cat that she didn't know. "He's training to be WindClan's medicine cat."

"Hello." mewed the black tom.

Tadpolepaw was still reeling from seeing the WindClan and couldn't bring herself to get the nerve to talk to any cat, much less a _WindClan_ cat. Instead, she gave Deerpaw a polite nod, and slowly, shyly, she returned her gaze back to the WindClan warrior.

Or, where he was. She tried to find him, but in the sea of cats, it was a hopeless task. She did notice Sheerain, who it appeared had wandered off from the group of apprentices, but no sign of that WindClan warrior. Then her eyes slid over the Great Rock, and then over it again. Near the bottom of the rock, where the deputy's sat, there were three cats. There was Stormfall, and Shellstorm the RiverClan deputy. But the third deputy, the WindClan deputy, was the cat who had attacked her.

Tadpolepaw was hit by another bout of fear, and it took a very hard to send it away. Quickly forcing her eyes away from the great rock, she turned to Deerpaw. She was tired of referring to him as just "the WindClan warrior."  
"Deerpaw." she said sharply, not caring that he and Ashenpaw were deep in conversation.

Deerpaw looked a little annoyed at Tadpolepaw's interruption but answered her anyway. "Yes?"

"That's your deputy, right?" she said, flicking her tail at the cat who she could not bear to bring herself to look at. Deerpaw nodded.

"What's his name?" Tadpolepaw asked

"Uh, it's Thornleap." Deerpaw responded

"Thanks." mewed Tadpolepaw

 _Thornleap_ thought Tadpolepaw, the name sending a shiver down her spine. So that was the name of the cat who had attacked her and given herself so much pain. And he was the WindClan deputy. Why did he hate her so? And as the WindClan deputy, he must have so much influence in the clan. Had he went home bragging, about what he had done to a poor defenseless kit? How much of the clan would agree with him about what he had done to a defenseless kit simply because he was deputy? Or did the whole clan already know?

"Let the gathering begin!"

Tadpolepaw jumped. She hadn't noticed ThunderClan arrive. She looked up at the great rock, avoiding Thornleap, and saw that Swiftstar, the ThunderClan leader was now up there with the other three leaders.

"WindClan will start," mewed Quickstar. "And we do have news. Just when we thought ShadowClan were finally beginning to honor the warrior code, we discovered ShadowClan scent on our land again! Seedstar, when will you learn to keep your cats to their territory!"

A quick glance at her fellow apprentices, followed by her clan mates, showed shocked looks of anger on their faces. Tadpolepaw, who was similarly feeling anger at being falsely accused, shot a glare at Deerpaw, who was looking sheepish and, after receiving Tadpolepaw's glare, stared glumly at his paws.

On the rock, a slow growl escaped Seedstar.

"What evidence do you have to support these claims?" Seedstar's voice was icy.

"Thornleap discovered ShadowClan scent on our side of the border." Quickstar's reply was similarly icy.

"Where is your proof?" hissed Seedstar

"I have my deputy's word." retorted Quickstar

Tadpolepaw felt a shiver of anger. He was stirring up trouble for absolutely no reason! She swallowed another bout of fear. as she realized just how much influence the cat who had attacked her had. She gazed up at the moon. A cloud was hurtling towards it. StarClan was angry. Tadpolepaw noticed several ShadowClan and WindClan cats with their claws out. If there was to be a battle, Thornleap would have an excellent excuse to finish the job.

"Stop," mewed Swiftstar, positioning herself between the two angry leaders. "StarClan is angry. I'd quite like to keep the gathering going. Quickstar, do you have anything else to add?

After Quickstar angrily shook his head, Swiftstar sent a quick glance at Crystalstar. The light grey she cat received the look, nodded, and rose to her feet. Tadpolepaw shot a glance at the moon. The cloud which had been racing towards the moon was now nowhere to be seen.

"We have two new apprentices in RiverClan, Beechpaw and Sedgepaw. Their mentors are Beaverfang and Creekheart."

"Beechpaw! Sedgepaw!" called out the clans and the Tadpolepaw noticed the one that she thought was Sedgepaw, give her chest an embarrassed lick.

Swiftstar stood. "The prey is running well in ThunderClan, and we are as strong as ever." Swiftstar then sat down, tail folded neatly over her legs.

Seedstar stood, and Tadpolepaw could see anger still blazing in her eyes from Quickstar's accusation. But she spoke in a calm and even tone.

"ShadowClan has never been stronger, as this past moon we added two new apprentices to our ranks. Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw."

"Tadpolepaw! Shadepaw!" went the calls. Tadpolepaw shrank down onto the cold ground, hearing her name ring around Fourtrees.

"Does any one else have any news?" asked Swiftstar. After a brief waiting period, where no cat responded, Swiftstar continued speaking. "Then the gathering is now over. We will give you a brief period to mill around and talk, and then we shall return to our separate territory's."

Swiftstar then jumped down from the great rock, followed quickly by the other three leaders and chattering of cats began again.

"Why didn't you tell us we were going to be accused of prey stealing, yet again!" Shadepaw growled, glaring at Deerpaw.

"I'm sorry," mewed the small black tom. "I thought you guys would leave me if I told you. Accusations of prey stealing just keep coming, don't they?"  
"I think it would have been better had you told us straight up." mewed a more calm Owlpaw.

"Yeah, I know," responded a sullen Deerpaw. "I guess – Oh! Thornleap!"

It took every last piece of Tadpolepaw's will to stop herself from screaming. Her attacker was standing right next to her! She wanted to run, but her legs just refused to work. Terror gripped her. She felt like ice. Then, Thornleap opened his mouth.

"Deerpaw," he growled. "Say goodbye to your ShadowClan friends and go to the rest of the clan. We're leaving."

Deerpaw nodded and mewed a quiet "Bye" to the four ShadowClan apprentices.

Thornleap turned to leave, but then stopped, starting another panic attack for Tadpolepaw.

"I would be careful if I were you, _ShadowClan_ ," he said, practically spitting the word at them. "One day WindClan will not be so lenient to your prey stealing." The WindClan deputy then turned tail and walked icily away.

As Thornleap walked away, Tadpolepaw breathed for the first time in what felt like moons. She feigned that she was OK to her fellow apprentices, But this was a lie. WindClan were making excuses to stir up trouble with ShadowClan, and Thornleap knew she was alive and around. What would happen next?

* * *

 **So, here we have it folks. You have your identity of the "WindClan warrior." You know, it was getting tiresome calling him that.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Amberpetal: Wow, thank you so much! That truly means a lot to me. And yes, Shadepaw has some adolescent attitude problems.**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Yes! And thank you so much for mentioning me in your What If book!**

 **I-really-hope-not: Uh..Ok. Thanks! Shadepaw and Honeypaw are not yet in a relationship, but Honeypaw is pretty embarrassed of him! Yeah, Thornleap and Lilacpelt both do suck.**

 **ExplodingQuasar: Thank you! Although sorry that I lied and said that Flightpaw would appear this chapter when she didn't. Anyway, he didn't attack her. So yay?**

 **ASJ7: When choosing Tadpolepaw's mentor, I looked through all of the ShadowClan warriors, and chose the one that had the best personality for a cat who is shy, angry, and experiencing plenty of PTSD. Weaselfoot best fit the bill, so he was always meant to be Tadpolepaw's mentor.**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming, they matter so much to me, and I will see you next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	10. Chapter 9

Despite the growing tension on both sides of the WindClan border, the only thing there was to show for it was increased patrols. A moon passed with nothing happening, and despite Tadpolepaw's anxiety, she slowly regained some confidence, enough to accept Shadepaw's challenge of a 1v1 moss ball game.

But that was a mistake. She lost very convincingly.

Tadpolepaw lay sadly, head on paws, on the camp floor. She couldn't remember the last time she managed to win against anyone in moss ball.

She felt a tongue rasping her head. Looking up, she saw Tansyfoot giving her comforting licks. She let out a small purr, showing her appreciation, and happy to see her mother.

Tansyfoot flopped down onto the grass next to Tadpolepaw.

"You know, if it makes you feel any better, I could never win at moss ball either."

"Huh. That makes two of us." responded Tadpolepaw.

"I would always play with my siblings, desperately hoping, just for once, I would beat them. I never did."

Tadpolepaw's head shot up.

"Your siblings? I thought you always said that you were an only kit."

Tadpolepaw saw shock flare in Tansyfoot's eyes, and she instantly seemed uncomfortable.

"I think I'm needed on the dusk patrol." Tansyfoot said this hurriedly, and quickly got up and left her kit, joining Sunfoot, Tigerfang, Aethernose and Cloudedwater on the dusk patrol.

 _She misspoke_ realized Tadpolepaw, watching her go _but what has she got to hide?_

"Tadpolepaw!"

Tadpolepaw shoved her curiosity about Tansyfoot to the back of her mind and stood up as she saw both Ashenpaw and Owlpaw excitedly running towards her.

"Tadpolepaw! Ashenpaw, Flightpaw and I are beginning our warrior assessments tommorow!"

"That seems very… sudden" mewed Tadpolepaw.

"Yeah, we were all quite shocked!" responded Ashenpaw.

"I'll miss having you in the den!" said Honeypaw, who had wandered over to see what the conversation was about.

"Yeah." Ashenpaw quietly agreed.

Next to Tadpolepaw, Owlpaw let out a large yawn.

Tadpolepaw, too, felt a claw of tiredness touch her, she hadn't noticed the sun set or the stars come out.

"Well, I've got a big day ahead me tommorow, so I'm going to head off to sleep." mewed Owlpaw.  
"I'll come with you," said Tadpolepaw "I'm tired as well."

* * *

Tadpolepaw woke to the quiet, yet steady, patter of rain outside the apprentices den. She slowly got up, and walked out of the den. A drop of rain hit her nose, making it twitch, and she retreated back under the shelter of the apprentices den.

Tadpolepaw made a run at the fresh-kill pile, closed her eyes as she was forced to get a muddy starling, and then made a run back to the apprentices den, in which Owlpaw was now awake.

"Do you want some of this starling?" offered Tadpolepaw, embarrassment hitting her. "It's a bit wet and muddy, but I don't think our mentors will be happy if we take anything dry."

"Thanks." purred Owlpaw and he crouched down next to her and began to eat.

The pair ate in silence, and Tadpolepaw's mind wandered to Thornleap's appearance at the gathering. She had been so scared for the first few days after the gathering. She was constantly looking over her shoulder, thinking WindClan would be after her at any moment. Yet things were quiet. Had he really just forgotten about her?

"I've got a big day today." mewed Owlpaw, startling Tadpolepaw a bit, and breaking her out of her thoughts.

"What assessments do you have on?" asked Tadpolepaw

"Hunting all day," responded Owlpaw. "Team hunting skills till sun-high, and then solo hunting skills after. I'll bring you a sparrow."

"Thanks." said Tadpolepaw, the faintest bit of a purr catching in her throat.

Owlpaw soon had to go, so Tadpolepaw, feeling bored went to find Weaselfoot, who was sharing prey with Marshstep.

"Tadpolepaw," he purred. "Aethernose has been requesting to go on a patrol with you for quite a while, so I thought we'd join him and Snookwing on a hunting patrol."

 _Aethernose?_ Thought Tadpolepaw _It will be good to go on a patrol with father. Maybe I can ask him if he knows anything about Tansyfoot's siblings._

* * *

The rain hadn't let up as the patrol tried to find a good hunting spot, and Tadpolepaw's fur was getting plastered to her body.

"Can't we just hunt anywhere?" Tadpolepaw complained.

"No one likes a whiner." hissed Snookwing at her.

"Snookwing, calm down," mewed Aethernose calmly. "But Tadpolepaw, I'm leading the patrol, and we need to go deeper into the territory if we want good hunting."  
Tadpolepaw suppressed a groan.

Fortunately, it wasn't far to where Aethernose had planned to hunt.

"I was thinking we could do team hunting, considering the weather," mewed Aethernose. "We will be lucky to find anything in this weather. So I want us to be sure to catch anything we do find. Weaselfoot, is it OK if I hunt with my daughter?"

Weaselfoot nodded, and Tadpolepaw and Aethernose went a different direction to hunt for prey than Snookwing and Weaselfoot.

"Can you scent anything?" asked Aethernose after they had walked a while.

Tadpolepaw tasted the air, but with the rain, it was hard to scent anything. Still, she felt reasonably sure that there was no prey nearby.

"Nothing." she said to Aethernose.

Aethernose nodded, and they walked on.

"Did you know Tansyfoot's siblings?" asked Tadpolepaw suddenly.

Aethernose flicked an ear.

"I wasn't aware that she had any, I thought she was an only kit."

"She mentioned that she had some yesterday. But she didn't go into any depth when I asked her about them." mewed Tadpolepaw.

"I think there were plenty of other kits in the nursery when she was." said Aethernose slowly. "Maybe she was just very close to the other kits in the nursery at the time, and thought them as her siblings."

"If so, why not tell me?" wondered Tadpolepaw, wondering where she had got the courage to ask about this from. "She wouldn't go into any detail about these "siblings."

"Quiet," hissed Aethernose suddenly. "I smell lizard."

Aethernose pointed with his tail, and Tadpolepaw glanced at where he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a lizard there. Aethernose, waved his tail, signaling Tadpolepaw to chase it into his paws. Tadpolepaw quietly crept around it, so the only way it could go was towards Aethernose. Tadpolepaw then ran at it, making it sprint towards Aethernose, who snagged it on a claw, killing it instantly.

"Good work." mewed Aethernose approvingly

"But are you certain that Tansyfoot didn't have any siblings?" Tadpolepaw asked.

"Tadpolepaw," said Aethernose with an exasperated sigh. "Are you going to sit here all day discussing a mistake Tansyfoot made, or are you going to help me hunt?"  
Tadpolepaw stared at her paws.

"Yes Aethernose."

* * *

After the patrol finished hunting, Tadpolepaw was told to clean out the nursery. By the time she was finishing, the sun was setting, and the rain was finally beginning to ease up.

"Hey Tadpolepaw," mewed Owlpaw warmly. "Just finished my assessment. Here's your sparrow."  
"Thank you!" purred Tadpolepaw, a trickle of embarrassment running down her spine. "Let me just finish cleaning the nursery."

"I'll help." mewed Owlpaw.

"I hope I did OK on the assessment," said Owlpaw as he fluffed up a nest. "I think I brought back enough prey."  
Tadpolepaw nodded encouragingly at him. "I'm sure you did."

Tadpolepaw looked at the horizon, and noted that the sun had been swallowed by it for another day. She then checked the camp. A drop of worry hit her. '

"Shouldn't Ashenpaw be back by now?" said Tadpolepaw

Owlpaw checked the camp himself.

"Juniperfang isn't here either. No mentor, no apprentice."  
More drops of worry, mingling with the rain, hit Tadpolepaw. Where was her friend?

The pair kept working, and were soon done cleaning the nursery. They settled down to eat, and shared the sparrow Owlpaw had caught. But neither Ashenpaw, nor Juniperfang appeared. Worry was rising like a wave in Tadpolepaw now, but she forced it down, engaging in some idle conversation with Owlpaw. Suddenly Juniperfang rushed into the camp.

"Seedstar!" gasped Juniperfang "Ashenpaw is missing!"

Seedstar was next to Juniperfang in an instant. Tadpolepaw remembered that both Owlpaw and Ashenpaw were Seedstar's kits, so she would have a special reason to be worried about this.

"How did you lose her?" Seedstar demanded

"She was near the end of her assessment," said Juniperfang. "In fact, I would have said that she would be done, but she was already stalking more prey. I thought she was good for a moment, so I went to make dirt. When I came back, she was gone. I tried looking for her and calling for her, but the rain washed away her scent and it was too dark."  
Tadpolepaw felt the fear rising in her, and she was sure that Owlpaw and Seedstar felt the same way.

"Where did you see her last?" asked Seedstar.

Juniperfang paused.

"Where?" growled Seedstar.

"By the WindClan border." mewed Juniperfang, her voice cracking.

And with those words, the fear of Thornleap and WindClan that Tadpolepaw had kept bottled up crashed down around her.

* * *

 **Sorry about the delay with this everyone, life has been busy. On the bright side, the holidays will be here soon, and I will be able to write a lot more then.**

 **So… a missing Ashenpaw and mystery about Tansyfoot. The plot is starting to quicken….**

 **Also, next chapter is my tenth, so I thought we would do something special for it! I'm going to give a cookie (::) to everyone who has reviewed, one cookie per review. So the more reviews, the more cookies!**

 **Review responses!**

 **ASJ7: Beechpaw and Sedgepaw are younger than Crystalstar's kits, who were already apprentices by the time Tadpolepaw was an apprentice. We just didn't see it happen because Tadpolepaw was still a kit and couldn't go to gatherings. Thanks for the review!**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Ha Ha! I wish buddy, I wish.**

 **SomeoneI'msure: Thanks for pointing that out, I have fixed the mistake. Yep, Thornleap is probably a liar, and yes, the clans do have a problem about not having a system in place to get rid of corrupt cats. Thanks for the review!**

 **ExplodingQuasar: Thanks. I can confirm that she will appear next chapter. I'm glad she's safe to. Thanks for the review!**

 **Maple Dapple: Thank you so much! Yeah, Tadpolepaw was having trouble during that gathering! Nice description of Thornleap. :)**

 **That is it! Thank you for all the reviews, please keep them coming as they keep me going and I will see you all next time!**


	11. Chapter 10

Seedstar let out a long, loud breath.

"Maybe WindClan knows where she is," said Seedstar. "Maybe a patrol saw something and could help us find her."  
"Or maybe WindClan took her prisoner!" called out Tigerfang.

"My kits!" cried Willowstorm, bringing Jaykit, Robinkit, and Cardinalkit closer to her. "What if WindClan takes them as well!"

A murmur of worry spread through the camp, cats talking quietly to the cat next to him.

Tadpolepaw began to shake, remembering what Thornleap had done to her when she was a kit. What if they had stolen Ashenpaw to get to her? If they had taken Ashenpaw prisoner, then ShadowClan would certainly battle them to get her back. Then Thornleap would have an excellent excuse to kill her. He could easily make a "mistake" in the heat of a battle. An image of his long claws slicing through her neck appeared in her mind. She let out a small whimper.

"Tadpolepaw, are you OK?"

She jumped. She had forgotten Owlpaw was right next to her. Suddenly, Tadpolepaw realized how unfair she was being, thinking only about herself. Owlpaw's sister was missing! And here she was worrying about what might happen in a battle! Battles happened all the time! No other cats were so afraid.

"Tadpolepaw?" said Owlpaw again, more worry in his mew this time.

Tadpolepaw cursed herself for not answering the first time, and gave Owlpaw a nod.

"I'm fine." she squeaked.

Owlpaw didn't look convinced, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Seedstar spoke before he could.

"Quiet." the brown she-cat mewed loudly. "There is no proof that WindClan has taken Ashenpaw, thus they are innocent. And, until there is proof that they took Ashenpaw, they will remain innocent."

"Her last known location was on the border!" yelled Tigerfang. "What more proof do you need!"

"A lot more than that." responded Seedstar.

"Seedstar," mewed Brambleheart. "With all of this tension on both sides of the border, I don't think it is unlikely that she was taken by WindClan."

"I'm not ruling it out," mewed Seedstar. "But I need more proof that is what happened. Listen, tommorow, I will take a patrol onto WindClan territory, to _talk_ with them," she said putting emphasis on the word talk. "And see if they know anything about her disappearance. But, it is too late now. Silverpelt is in full shine. I will take that patrol early in the morning, but not tonight. I recommend that we all get a good sleep tonight."

With that, the clan finally seemed to accept that there was nothing that they could do for Ashenpaw until the sun came up. In a sad silence, only interrupted by sorrowful mutterings, cats retreated to their dens.

Meanwhile, terror continued to reign free in Tadpolepaw's mind. Images of a battle against WindClan with both her and Thornleap in it, continued to scare her. What if a battle happened? What if she and Thornleap were in it? What if there was a full fledged war? What chance did she really have if push came to shove and she found herself fighting Thornleap? What if, What if, What if!

Tadpolepaw and Owlpaw had now arrived at the apprentices den, and while all of the apprentices were either in their nests, or preparing to get into their nests, Tadpolepaw could not help but notice that there was no cat near Ashenpaw's nest, and that there was precious little of her scent left in her nest. She knew that Owlpaw noticed the emptiness of the nest as well. Before she curled up in her nest, Tadpolepaw locked eyes with Owlpaw. They shared a deep, meaningful glance. In his eyes, Tadpolepaw could see all of the emotion that he was hiding. Fear for his sister, anxiety over what was ahead of them. A small flash of hope, that his sister would have just wandered off and would be back, and simple, complete sadness that he wasn't with his sister. Despite her own terror, and fear of Thornleap, worry for Ashenpaw, and terror for what might be ahead, Tadpolepaw realized that he needed comforting. She lifted her tail and rested it lightly on Owlpaw's shoulder. A small drop of gratefulness passed through Owlpaw's eyes, telling Tadpolepaw thank you. Using gargantuan effort, Tadpolepaw broke the gaze between them, lifted her tail off Owlpaw's shoulder, and settled down in her nest.

The next morning, Tadpolepaw woke. It wasn't what she would have called a restful sleep. She had tossed and turned for a large portion of the night, and, when she had finally been taken in by sleep, she fortunately didn't have any nightmares. Still, it wasn't nice, as if she was still aware in her sleep that bad things were happening, that Ashenpaw was missing.

When she left the apprentices den, most of the clan was already awake, as the early morning sun shone down on the camp. She went to the fresh-kill pile, and grabbed a lizard, but simply stared at the dead creature. She wasn't hungry.

"Looks like the rain cleared up overnight." mewed Fawnheart loudly. No cat answered her, and Tadpolepaw went back to staring at her lizard.

Soon, it looked like everyone was up, and Seedstar went to the top of the Clanrock.

"Clan mates," she said loudly, so that every cat could hear. "I have decided. Coming with me to WindClan, will be Marshstep, Flightpaw, Weaselfoot, and Tadpolepaw."  
Tadpolepaw's breath caught in her throat as she heard her name called. All of a sudden, one by one, all of her worst fears were coming true. With a rival clan on their territory, WindClan were likely to send some of their best and most important cats to meet ShadowClan, and those important cats could be Thornleap. All of a sudden the images of Thornleap killing her felt a lot more real.

"However," Tadpolepaw quickly flicked her attention back to the Clanrock, where Seedstar was speaking again. "I share many of your concerns that this could end up in a battle. Thus, I have decided, Gorsewater, you are to lead a patrol. Technically, you are a hunting patrol, but, you are to hunt not too far from the WindClan border. Far enough so that you cannot be seen or heard, but close enough so that you are not too far away. Take these cats with you, Lighteningrunner, Owlpaw, Juniperfang, Sunfoot, Graytail, Pinefrost and Tigerfang. They are to be our rescue if things end up in a battle. Stormfall is in charge of the rest of the patrols. WindClan patrol, we are leaving now."

All the fear that Tadpolepaw had now began to rise. This was it. She was actually going to WindClan. The images of Thornleap killing her flashed in front of her eyes again and again as she walked with the patrol to the WindClan border. As she just, just managed to suppress her fear again, she noticed that no one in the patrol was speaking. A nervous silence hung over the patrol, and the tension was rising; this cloud was going to break.

"Tadpolepaw."

Tadpolepaw looked up to see that Seedstar had fallen into step with her. She had also broken the silence, although it hadn't eased the tension. What did the clan leader want with her? She looked up at Seedstar to show she was listening.

"Listen," Tadpolepaw noted that the clan leader was speaking very softly, so that the silence would at least appear to remain unbroken. "If things take a turn for the worse, and WindClan start a fight, then you are the runner in this operation. Your job is to go, get out of there, ignore the fighting cats, just go. You need to warn Gorsewater's patrol so that we can get reinforcements to help defeat WindClan. You got that?"

Tadpolepaw nodded. She wanted this job, she felt nowhere near ready for her first battle. If she minimized her time that was spent on the battle field, the less chance there was for these images, these visions, to come true. The less chance there was for Thornleap to kill her. Still, she didn't like this, going into WindClan territory, everyone on edge, everyone with the expectation that there would be a fight. Her whole body was nothing but a bundle of nerves.

As the WindClan border neared, the silence simply became more and more deafening. It was like a buzz, one that was annoying, one that was going to make someone crack. With the exception of Seedstar's quiet talk with Tadpolepaw, the silence remained unbroken. Desperate to do anything to help ease the tension, Tadpolepaw walked up to Flightpaw. Like Owlpaw, she was Ashenpaw's sister. However, Tadpolepaw had never quite got Flightpaw. She was very quiet, and always seemed to be brooding about something. Whenever someone talked to her, she was always polite, but seemed to want nothing more than for the conversation to end. Despite this, Tadpolepaw went up to Flightpaw.

"How are you feeling?" she asked the grey she-cat. Instantly, it felt as if the silence that she had broken had been the only thing holding up the sky, and the sky was now crashing down on her.

Flightpaw, meanwhile, didn't seem to notice the sky falling. Instead, she casually flicked an ear.

"Nervous." Flightpaw said with almost no emotion.

"Do you think there will be a battle?"

"Possibly."

"Patrol halt!" called out Seedstar. Instantly the sky stopped falling, and everything was calm. The patrol was now at the thunderpath that was between them and WindClan territory. A monster whizzed past, making Tadpolepaw jump.

"We are now about to cross over onto WindClan territory." meowed Seedstar. "Once we are there, we are to simply wait for a patrol to speak to." There were no monsters nearby as Seedstar finished speaking, and the patrol scampered across the border onto WindClan territory.

On WindClan territory, Tadpolepaw noticed how short and dry the grass was. It was itchy. On ShadowClan territory, the swamps had almost always kept a large portion of the grass wet.

"Now we wait." mewed Seedstar, and in an instant the loud silence was back, and Tadpolepaw was too terrified to break it sometime. All the images of Thornleap killing were now at the front of her mind, and she began to shake.

After what seemed like moons passed, Tadpolepaw finally saw a WindClan patrol in the distance. They had noticed them as well, and Tadpolepaw noticed their pace increase, making her shake even more. What if Thornleap was on this patrol?

He wasn't. The patrol finally arrived, and Tadpolepaw knew none of the three cats it consisted of. One was a tom of reasonably light brown color, while another was a pure white she-cat with a couple of golden flecks. The final cat was much smaller than the other, two, an apprentice Tadpolepaw guessed. He was lithe gray tom with a white chest. But Tadpolepaw knew absolutely none of them. Were they friendly? How would they respond with the news that Ashenpaw was missing? Fortunately, Seedstar recognized them.

"Stepfrost, Sparkstone, Runningpaw." she mewed, looking at the gray tom first; he must be Stepfrost, the second one must be Sparkstone, and the third smaller cat, must be the apprentice, Runningpaw.

"How runs the prey in WindClan?" Seedstar mewed curtly.

"Good, thank you." Stepfrost responded. "But what brings you to WindClan territory?"

"One of our apprentices, Ashenpaw, has gone missing. She was last spotted on the WindClan border. We were wondering if you had any information."

"I think I should refer you to our leader on this." mewed Stepfrost carefully. "Sparkstone, Runningpaw, stay here and guard the ShadowClan warriors. I will head back and report this incident to Quickstar." The brown tom than ran off, vanishing from sight over the moor.

Meanwhile, a staring contest happened between the five ShadowClan cats and the two WindClan cats. The silence had returned, and, once again was solely responsible for holding up the sky. No cat dared to speak. But Tadpolepaw began to worry. Would Quickstar come? How many cats would he bring? Would she have a chance to get to Gorsewater's patrol? What about Thornleap?

Once again, moons seemed to pass before any cats returned. But, finally, Tadpolepaw noticed a large patrol heading over the moor. But Quickstar was not leading the patrol. Thornleap was. And Tadpolepaw began to shake again, images of Thornleap killing her were in her head. Then Tadpolepaw noticed how large the patrol was. Including Thornleap, there was six cats. Plus Sparkstone and Runningpaw, ShadowClan were badly out numbered.

"Thornleap." Seedstar mewed curtly, either not noticing or not caring about his numbers. "I thought Quickstar would be coming."

"Quickstar is ill," the ginger tom growled. "I am in charge for the moment. I hear you have a lost apprentice."

"Yes," said Seedstar. "Do you have any idea where she is?"  
"In our camp, prisoner." responded Thornleap, raking his eyes over the patrol, halting briefly at Tadpolepaw, before moving over the rest of the patrol.

"Why?" pressed Seedstar, her hackles raising.

"She was found taking prey on our land," Thornleap spat. "We finally have our proof of your clan's thievery, Seedstar."

"Thornleap," Seedstar mewed after letting out a long breath. "I am truly sorry that she was found hunting on your land. But, she is young, and lacks better judgment that we will be taught to her as life goes on. May we please take her back to our camp and punish her?"

"Not until we have an apology from ShadowClan, and prey for all the times ShadowClan has thieved from WindClan."

"I cannot agree to those terms, Thornleap" responded Seedstar. "Not unless there is proof that we have stolen from you before."

"Then it appears we have reached an impasse," growled Thornleap. "WindClan attack!"

* * *

 **So, there we have it folks. Next chapter we will have our first battle scene!** **And I also got this chapter out reasonably fast!**

 **Reviews, then cookies.**

 **Rainy Spirit: Thank you! I'm glad your enjoying it!**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: So, how does another cliff hanger help?**

 **ExplodingQuasar: Yeah, Ashenpaw would do that. And I think I know what you think you know. But are either of us right? But does Aethernose know more than he is letting on? Or maybe he just doesn't know his mate well. I did mention at the start of the chapter Willowstorm's kits, so the nursery isn't empty. However, I'm planning for a barren stage of kits anyway, as ShadowClan is quite large at the moment. So there wont be kits for a while. Thanks for the review!**

 **I-really-hope-not: Glad that your enjoying it! Lets hope another chapter makes you want more! Thanks for the review!**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: I'm glad you enjoyed Snookwing's one line. With so many OC's it can be hard to premier even some of them, so I'm glad I got the right line! Me too, I probably make hundreds of mistakes per chapter.**

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 **Enjoy those cookies! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed, they mean so much to me. Also, we just went over fifty reviews this chapter, so that makes it extra special! Thank you all so much again, I love you all (Not in a weird way.)**

 **I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

Thanks!

 **-Willowstorm.**


	12. Chapter 11

WindClan raced forward.

At the same time, Tadpolepaw desperately turned her body trying to get in the right shape for a sprint.

After Thornleap's yowl, there was a split second of utter silence as both waves of cats raced toward each other.

But that silence was only for one heart beat.

Carnage than ensued between the numerous WindClan and out-numbered ShadowClan. Yowls of pain, the dull thunk of claws, the screams of fury all echoed across WindClan territory.

Tadpolepaw could not spare the thought, or energy to focus on what was happening to her clan mates. She had gotten herself into a position where she could sprint towards ShadowClan territory, towards Gorsewater, towards, at the very least, temporary safety. She was running fast, and could have made it to ShadowClan territory had she not been caught. But, she had only been going for one or two heart beats when she felt a leg, with it's claws out sweep under her belly, and hit her leg, causing her to trip and fall, with an agonizing thump. In the split moment between her landing on the ground and her attempt to get back up, she noticed that she was only a whisker length from the thunderpath, and the rest of the fighting cats were around just one fox-length.

After this revelation, Tadpolepaw jumped up. Immediately she realized that she was staring at Thornleap. Terror shot through her, but she didn't have time to think, only time to react, as Thornleap rammed into her. Tadpolepaw struggled to deal with the wall of muscle hitting her, and was knocked onto the ground. Pain tore through her as she felt Thornleap's claws slash through her leg, making her yowl in pain.

Dazed, Tadpolepaw felt a savage kick hit her side, making her roll. Strangely, there were no claws in this kick. As Thornleap loomed over her again, she realized what he had done. She was now lying on her back, leaving the soft skin of her belly open. She saw the glimmer of satisfaction in Thornleap's eyes, and his head shot down, and sharp teeth clenched down on her belly, making her let out a large yowl of pain. Thornleap let go and brought his head back, with it, a tuft of fur, spotted with blood. Her blood. The blood which was now running from the place where Thornleap had bit her. Weakly, she hit Thornleap's muzzle and saw a single red dot of blood there. But if Thornleap noticed or cared, he didn't show it.

Terror once again began to pulse through Tadpolepaw's veins, panicking her as her breaths became short and sharp. Thornleap clearly had the upper hand, and there was very little she could do to stop him? Was this the end? Was Thornleap going to finish the job that was started when she sneaked out of camp as a kit? Tadpolepaw could see that Thornleap knew that he had the power over her. She was helpless.

Suddenly, a brown blur slammed into Thornleap, knocking into the ground and away from Tadpolepaw. Tadpolepaw took the opportunity to get up, wincing as pain coursed through her injured leg. She turned to see Seedstar and Thornleap tussling on the ground.

"Pick on someone your own size!" the angry ShadowClan leader growled.

 _Was that to me or Thornleap?_ Wondered Tadpolepaw,

"Tadpolepaw!" called out Marshstep "Can you still run to Gorsewater's patrol?"

Tadpolepaw was only hobbling as it was, and she knew that she had no chance if she tried to get to Gorsewater's patrol.

"I'm sorry, I can't!" she called back.

"Flightpaw!" cried Marshstep. "You need to get to Gorsewater's patrol!"  
Tadpolepaw saw Flightpaw nod, and the dark-gray she cat disengaged from her battle with Runningpaw, the WindClan apprentice that had been on the original patrol that had met them, and ran across the thunderpath. Two blurry WindClan warriors immediately followed her.

Tadpolepaw hobbled to Runningpaw, who ran at her. Tadpolepaw slashed at Runningpaw's ear and blood streamed out. Runningpaw let out an angry growl, and slashed at Tadpolepaw's front, non-injured leg. Tadpolepaw rolled out of the way, before letting out a yowl as her weight pressed down on her injured leg. As Tadpolepaw got up, she saw a glimmer in Runningpaw's eye. She had noticed her injured leg. Runningpaw then flashed a claw, and Tadpolepaw's injured leg flashed more pain, and she began to wobble, as her leg struggled to support her. She flashed with her own claw and sent a scratch down Runningpaw's side. But Runningpaw wasn't giving up. She reared up and slammed her weight into Tadpolepaw' s injured leg again. This was too much for it. Tadpolepaw fell onto the ground a dull thump as her leg stopped working. It had taken too much punishment. Shakily, Tadpolepaw got up, holding her injured leg above the ground, desperately trying to keep her balance on just three legs.

"Give up?" hissed Runningpaw

Tadpolepaw shivered? What could she do? She couldn't fight on three legs. But if she was to surrender, she might end up with Ashenpaw. And what would Thornleap do if she was held prisoner?

Suddenly a yowl from the other side of the battle field caught both of their attention. Tadpolepaw looked, and saw Thornleap get up, from where he and Seedstar had been tussling on the ground. Next him, blood leaked from Seedstar's neck. She wasn't moving, not even a twitch.

Tadpolepaw's eyes widened. _She's a clan leader._ Thought Tadpolepaw desperately. _She has nine lives. But.. what if this was her last? What if she dies? What if StarClan won't send her back?_

Tadpolepaw then noticed that a semi-circle was forming around her, and was closing in on her. She walked backwards, suddenly finding herself pressed against Weaselfoot and Marshstep. The WindClan warriors were all around them, leaving a wall of snarling claw, teeth, and muscle between the three ShadowClan cats and the thunderpath and ShadowClan border.

"So," hissed Thornleap, staring at Tadpolepaw. "It appears we now have five ShadowClan hostages."

Tadpolepaw glanced at Seedstar. Her clan leader was breathing again, though her breaths were shallow. It wasn't her ninth life that she had lost.

"I wonder what ShadowClan will be willing to give to get them back," said Thornleap, his voice as slippery as a snake.

"A FIGHT!" Tadpolepaw watched Gorsewater fly into Thornleap, knocking him into the ground. All around her, ShadowClan warriors sprung into action. Flightpaw had made it back to ShadowClan territory, and she had found Gorsewater's patrol! Her eyes locked on one member of the patrol in particular. Owlpaw. He had taken over the battle she had been having with Runningpaw, and the two cats were now exchanging blow for blow. Runningpaw's back was turned to Tadpolepaw. Seizing her opportunity, Tadpolepaw limped forward as fast as she could on three legs, came up behind Runningpaw, and slammed her teeth into her back. Runningpaw let out a yowl of agony, and Owlpaw used the distraction to slash her muzzle. The two cats now faced off with Runningpaw, making her back away. As the two of them moved forward, Runningpaw closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

"Fine. You win." she practically spat, and turned tail, and fled across the moor to her camp.

Tadpolepaw turned to Owlpaw.

"Good to see you." She mewed, awkwardly shifting her weight between her three usable legs.

"Glad I could be of assistance," Owlpaw purred. "We make a good team."

"I think it was mostly me." Tadpolepaw weakly joked, feeling the rush of adrenaline wear off, and bubbles of relief beginning to spread through her.

"So..." mewed Owlpaw.

"Yeah." Tadpolepaw agreed. "Uh.. So."

Suddenly, Thornleap's voice interrupted them. Almost all of the independent skirmishes that made up the battle had died down, as ShadowClan overpowered WindClan. Only one battle was still being fought. Thornleap and the rest of WindClan had stopped fighting, but, with their tails being pressed right up against the thunderpath, Sparkstone continued to duel Weaselfoot and Sunfoot.

"Sparkstone," called Thornleap, his voice etched with the inevitable disdain of defeat. "We've lost. Come and retreat."

Sparkstone, however, did not seem to hear. Instead, she jumped up onto Sunfoot's back, who had stopped fighting to let her pass, and dug her claws in. Sunfoot screeched in pain. Weaselfoot crashed into her, helping his clan mate. Sparkstone was knocked of Sunfoot and landed on the thunderpath, head first, with a sickening thud.

"Sparkstone!" called a WindClan cat.

"Get up!" hissed Weaselfoot. Sparkstone wriggled slightly, but otherwise made no move. Meanwhile, Tadpolepaw could hear the roar of a monster getting closer.

"Sparkstone!" Said Weaselfoot, his voice sharp with worry.

The monster was edged nearer…

Tadpolepaw saw Weaselfoot get desperate look in his eye, and ran onto the thunderpath, and grabbed Sparkstone's leg, and tried to haul her back to the moor, back to safety.

But Tadpolepaw could see that he'd never make it. The monster was on top of them.

There was a sickening crunch.

* * *

 **Guys, I'm so sorry about the delay in getting this to you. Life has been ultra busy lately, sorry. Will get the next one up shortly. Also, the cliffhanger at the end here was a very spur of the moment decision. The aftermath was originally intended to be in this chapter. But hey, I've got to be awful to you guys and make you agonize about what happened.**

 **Reviews!**

 **I-really-hope-not: I'll take that bet… Glad that my writing makes you want more!**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: You're not half wrong…**

 **A Sky of Blazing stars: Phew! If my cliffhangers didn't make you wonder, they wouldn't be good cliffhangers. I'm happy you enjoyed the cookies. I wonder how long I can drag out Ashenpaw's saga… You're welcome for the follow!**

 **Aviray: You're welcome! Thanks for the review, and glad to hear that you like the chapter!**

 **ASJ7: Yeah… I can't mention a lot of OC's because it just wouldn't fit in with the plot… I can confirm that at least one of everyone's OC will appear though!**

 **ExplodingQuasar: Well, with two reviews on this chapter, you're certainly on the right track! And well, at least according to Thornleap, she was trespassing.**

 **ExplodingQuasar: (2) OMG YES PLEASE! It would be great to see them appear. You're amazing! Thank you so much! And you're welcome for Ashenpaw. And you're fine as well, you've been one of the most devoted followers of this story. So yes please, and thank you so much! I can't wait to read your story!**

 **That's it guys! Thanks for the reviews, they keep me going, and I guess I'll see you next time!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	13. Chapter 12

As Tadpolepaw blinked, she heard the crunch.

And time slowed down.

And, for a moment, despite her eyes being closed as she was in mid blink, she could picture all the cats, from ShadowClan and WindClan, in her mind. The shock and horror of hearing a crunch, knowing that, one, possibly two brave cats were dead. Everyone was worried. Everyone wanted them to make it. But, why had everyone been fighting just heart beats ago?

Then the crunch stopped, and the monster just kept going, speeding away across the thunderpath.

Tadpolepaw then opened her eyes, and saw what had happened.

Next to the thunderpath, Tadpolepaw saw the brown furred body of Weaselfoot, very much alive, panting, eyes wide in terror, as he realized what had just happened to him.

On the thunderpath, there was a bloody heap lying on the ground, motionless. It looked very squashed. Judging from it's white color where the blood hadn't splattered it, this must be Sparkstone.

She was dead.

"Sparkstone! No!" cried a dark brown tom, who had been in the battle. The tom ran towards the thunderpath, where Sparkstone's dead body lay. The tom crouched down next to the body, and began to sniffle.

"Falconwing," mewed Stepfrost, moving towards Falconwing, and lightly touching his tail to Falconwing's shoulder. "You're sister is in StarClan now. She's in a better place."

Thornleap turned towards the ShadowClan cats.

"I hope your happy with what happened, a brave warrior is dead because of your actions."

Tadpolepaw saw the fur on Seedstar's back raise, but Gorsewater placed his tail on her shoulder.

"If I recall correctly," Gorsewater said coldly. "We seemed to be fighting because you stole an apprentice because you wanted payment for something that never happened."

Thornleap let out an angry hiss, but did not say anything.

Meanwhile, Tadpolepaw noticed Pinefrost licking the top of Weaselfoot's head. Her mentor seemed very shaken up by being nearly hit by the car, and was shaking. Pinefrost was of course, Weaselfoot's mate, and Tadpolepaw could hear her making comforting noises towards him. A thought echoed in Tadpolepaw's mind. _With Seedstar losing a life, we've had two deaths in this battle._ _  
_

"Tadpolepaw! Owlpaw!" Tadpolepaw heard the voice of Gorsewater calling her. "We're going to go fetch Ashenpaw. Tadpolepaw, can you manage with your leg?

Tadpolepaw looked at the senior warrior determinedly. "I need to check that Ashenpaw is OK."

Gorsewater nodded. "Let's go then."

* * *

Flanked by the WindClan cats, the patrol, with the exception of Pinefrost and Weaselfoot, who went back, traveled deeper into WindClan. A tense silence hanged over the group, the silence wasn't holding up the sky this time, instead it was holding back a storm. A storm, full to the brim of range, anger, hatred, false accusations, and battle. So, no cat dared to speak. The possible consequences were to dire.

Finally, they reached a dip in the uneven ground. In this dip, Tadpolepaw could see many cats simply milling around the camp. She was shocked by how there weren't many dens. It seemed as they would just sleep out in the open. Tadpolepaw found the thought weird and frightening. _Wouldn't it be cold, with the wind blowing through your fur all the time? And you'd be so expose_ _d while sleeping too…_ Tadpolepaw thought.

As the cats came to the bottom of the dip, Thornleap let out a sharp call.

"Ashenpaw! You're going home!"  
From one of the few dens in the camp, Ashenpaw emerged, with Deerpaw by her side. Judging by the fact that Deerpaw had came out as well, Tadpolepaw guessed it must have been the medicine cats den. Deerpaw was, of course the WindClan medicine cat apprentice. And they would have to shelter the herbs somewhere.

But, what was more shocking was the state of Ashenpaw. Although, maybe it shouldn't have been. She just looked… so normal. She didn't look scared of the WindClan cats at all, she looked well treated, and Tadpolepaw would have guessed that she had been fed last night.

"I'll have to tell you the story about the frog another time." Tadpolepaw heard Ashenpaw mew to Deerpaw.

She sounded so chipper. So happy. So… just like she normally did. Ashenpaw had always been one of the most cheerful cats Tadpolepaw had met. And here she was, acting like normal. And yet, there had been a battle which had taken two lives, if you counted one of Seedstar's nine. Why would such a deadly battle be fought over a cat who didn't even seem to realize that that anything unusual was going on?

Ashenpaw walked up to the patrol and let out a friendly mew.

"Hi! Good to see you all. WindClan's nice, but I can't wait to be home."  
"Ashenpaw," mewed Seedstar slowly "What happened?"

"I was on my solo hunting assessment, and you'll never believe what I found! A squirrel! How often do we see those on ShadowClan territory? I wanted to see what squirrel tasted like, so I tracked it. Unfortunately, it ran over the border, making it WindClan's prey. Still, I was desperate to see what it tasted like, so I ran over the border and killed it. A WindClan patrol found me, and since I was breaking the warrior code after all, they took me prisoner. But it gave me a chance to hang out with Deerpaw! And here you are! I'm ready to go home now, though it was fun seeing how another clan lived." Ashenpaw sucked in a breath as she finished speaking.

"Ashenpaw," said Gorsewater. "There was a battle fought to try and get you back. A cat named Sparkstone was killed as a result of it. We thought something terrible had happened. But, all this was over you chasing a squirrel?

Ashenpaw's face fell as she heard the news. She glanced up at Thornleap.

"But you said it would be simple to get me back to ShadowClan!" Ashenpaw said to Thornleap, horror growing in her face by the heart beat. "You said it would be quick and simple!"  
Thornleap let out a soft growl. "I said it would be quick and simple if ShadowClan complied with our demands, such as apologizing for hunting on our territory, and giving us prey equal to that which they stole. I made no such promises on it not happening if they did not comply."  
Ashenpaw stared glumly at her paws.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice barely rising above a whisper. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

"There's nothing to be done now," said Seedstar. "We should go."

With that, swiftly and silently, ShadowClan left WindClan.

* * *

By the time ShadowClan finally got back to camp, the sun was setting, and Tadpolepaw was regretting her decision to go to WindClan's camp. Her leg still refused to take any weight, and where Thornleap had bit her on her belly, a gnawing pain still lurked. She definitely felt ready to go to the medicine den.

In fact, she was heading there when Seedstar stopped her, calling a clan meeting.

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Clanrock for a clan meeting!"

Within a few heartbeats, the clan was gathered, and Seedstar began.

"Clan mates," Seedstar began. "We have won a victory today. While this wasn't a battle that I wanted, and it may have only come about due to our apprentice's folly, we have won the battle. With any luck, I am hoping for a quieter border in the coming moons.

"During this battle, two new warriors stood out to me more than most. Owlpaw, Flightpaw, please come forward."  
Tadpolepaw watched as the two walked up to their mother and clan leader. What was happening?  
"I, Seedstar, leader of ShadowClan, call on my warrior ancestors to look down on these two apprentices. They have both trained hard to understand your ways of your noble code, and I commend you to them as a warrior in their turn.

"Owlpaw, Flightpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do." said Flightpaw confidently and calmly.

"I-I do." said Owlpaw, stuttering as he said it.

"Then," Seedstar mewed, "From this day forward, Flightpaw, you shall be known as Flightfang. StarClan honors your spirit and speed. Owlpaw, form this day forward, you shall be known as Owlheart. StarClan honors your thoughtfulness and dedication. Together, we welcome you as full members of the clan."

Seedstar moved towards Owlheart, and rested her muzzle on his head, while Owlheart licked his leaders shoulder. Seedstar then moved away, and did the same with Flightfang. Then the cheer began.

"Owlheart! Flightfang!" called the clan.

While cheering, Tadpolepaw shot a look at Ashenpaw. Owlheart and Flightfang's sister was cheering just as loud, if not louder than every other cat in the clan, but her eyes told a different story. A story of hurt, and pain. A story of knowing that when it was her turn to become a warrior, her siblings would not be up there beside her. And, beneath that, something else. Something much more powerful and shocking then her hurt or pain. Something that no one else knew. But, what that something was, Tadpolepaw could not tell.

 _Oh StarClan, please let her be all right_ thought Tadpolepaw…

* * *

 **It feels like I'm saying this a lot, but I'm sorry about the wait for this chapter. Life has just been incredibly hectic. Hopefully I should get on a more normal schedule soon.**

 **Reviews!**

 **ASJ7: Thanks! I think I'm getting better at cliffhanger's.**

 **ASJ7 (2): Will be fixed soon.**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: Yeah, Thornleap is a pretty all round horrible cat. I'm hoping to get into his reasons later on.**

 **A Sky Of Blazing Stars: I'm now trying to think of a time where a crunch meant something good happened. Let me know if you think of something.**

 **I-really-hope-not: Thanks! I try my hardest. Sorry about the wait!**

 **AviRay: No problem! I'm glad I could capture her character well.**

 **ExplodingQuasar: No problem mate. Can't wait to see them in your book! Good luck with that, by the way. Yeah, that was Seedstar's first life that she lost. She still has eight. Hah, been trying to fit in Gorsewater for a while. I have thought about changing the POV, but I'm not sure when, and if, it will happen. It's possible. Thanks for the review!**

 **That's it! Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone, and I'll see you next chapter!**

 **Thanks!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	14. Chapter 13

Half a moon later, Tadpolepaw was still stuck in the medicine cats den as she waited for her wounds to heal. The only other cat still healing was, perhaps luckily, Weaselfoot. It had been a boring, and quiet half a moon.

As the sun began to set, one day, Tadpolepaw was treated to a nice surprise, a visit from Shadepaw and Honeypaw.

"Hi Tadpolepaw," mewed Honeypaw. "How are you going?"

"Well, I'm holding up OK," responded Tadpolepaw. "But I'm bored. Ready to get out of here."

"Whining won't make you leave any faster!" Stormbreeze brusquely growled at her as she walked past.

Embarrassment flooded over Tadpolepaw as she watched the senior medicine cat walk past.

"StarClan," murmured Shadepaw. "Is she always like that?"

"No, just when you get impatient." said Tadpolepaw sadly, annoyance at herself rushing through her blood stream. "Onto a different topic, how is Ashenpaw? I haven't seen her much since I got injured."  
Shadepaw and Honeypaw shared a look. _That can't mean anything good,_ thought Tadpolepaw.

"Ashenpaw has been quite distant," said Honeypaw slowly. "She has been working hard, and she has been desperate to become a warrior, but she just isn't very talkative. She seems sleep deprived and a bit snappy. I know Owlheart has tried talking to her, but I don't think she has told him anything."

"Is there anything we can do?" wondered Tadpolepaw

"Just be there, I guess," mewed Shadepaw. "If she wants to talk, she knows who her friends are."

The three of them, in unison, let out a long, collected sigh.

"Honeypaw!" came a call, presumably from Ashclaw, her mentor. "We're on the sunset patrol. Need you out here soon!"

"Fox dung!" hissed Honeypaw. "And I thought I was done for the day! I'll come back to see you later, Tadpolepaw." With that, the honey coloured she cat left the medicine den."

While Tadpolepaw wasn't happy to see that Honeypaw had left, she was her friend after all, and she liked having her friend around, she was a bit thankful. She had been hoping to talk to Shadepaw alone for some time now. With not much to do in the medicine den, her thoughts had returned to a mystery. A mystery which needed to be dug up, unearthed, so that the truth could come out.

"Shadepaw," she mewed. "Do you know if Tansyfoot had any siblings?"  
"Uh, no." said Shadepaw. "She always told us that she was the only kit of her litter. Why do you ask?"

"No reason," responded Tadpolepaw. "I just thought it would be nice to have more kin in the camp."

"What, am I not good enough for you?" teased Shadepaw

Tadpolepaw could only force out a light hearted purr at that. It just felt too soon to cracking jokes. With Thornleap, her aching leg, and her worry about Ashenpaw, she just didn't think that laughing and teasing was what she needed.

Still, Shadepaw somehow managed to buy her strangled purr. The two of them continued to talk about nothing for a while, but as Silverpelt came out, Shadepaw headed over to the nursery, while Tadpolepaw prepared for yet another night in the medicine cat den.

"Can I return to apprentice duties today?" asked Tadpolepaw hopefully. The medicine cat den was not an easy place to sleep. The sharp tangs of herbs made it hard to fall asleep, when each time you breathed you were struggling to hold back a fit of coughing from the constant barrage of smells.

Juniperfern, who was sorting herbs maybe a tail length away from Tadpolepaw, turned to her.

"I think you might have one or two days left to go before you return to your duties." the dark ginger medicine cat mewed.

Tadpolepaw let out, the longest, heaviest, sigh she could, before making a big show of putting her head on her paws.

"Not gonna work, Tadpolepaw." mewed Juniperfern

"Can I go on a walk around camp?" Tadpolepaw begged. "Please, I'm desperate for a change of scenery."  
"Fine, go." said Juniperfern.

Joy lifted through Tadpolepaw as she finally stepped out of the medicine cat den. She had only been out a few times since she picked up her injuries during the battle, and she felt so happy as sunlight sprinkled down onto her pelt.

Still, she wasn't allowed to leave camp, so she still wasn't sure what to do. Most of the patrols had already left, and now she joy she had felt at leaving the camp was replaced by indecision, and she felt a bit let down. Being outside wasn't as cool as she thought it was. Now what?

Tadpolepaw then noticed Magnepelt sunning herself in a clearing where the sun shone through. The oldest cat in the clan, and probably all the clans, with clumps of fur missing, and ugly, disease infected red skin showing, was there, where Tadpolepaw could talk to her.

There was a problem though.

She was crazy.

The old cat believed that StarClan lived in trees, would call no one by her name (Tadpolepaw was eternally known to her as Ashenpaw), and seemed to think she was the most important cat in the clan.

And to top it all off, she was very snappy.

Tadpolepaw sucked in a breath, before having a moment of indecision as she realized actually why she wanted to talk to Magnepelt. She talked to most of the cats in the clan now, and no one would say that that Tansyfoot had siblings. If almost everyone in the clan was denying it, why did Tadpolepaw still think there might be a chance that Tansyfoot did have siblings after all?  
It just didn't sit right with her. When Tansyfoot either slipped up or revealed a costly secret to Tadpolepaw, Tansyfoot had instantly seemed uncomfortable, and had taken the first chance she could to exit the conversation. Why would someone with nothing to hide act that way?

Still, everyone in the clan didn't seem to believe, or was hiding, the possible fact that Tansyfoot had siblings. But there would only be one cat who would be crazy enough to not jump on board this clan wide conspiracy.

Tadpolepaw let out her breath, and went up to Magnepelt.

"Hey Magnepelt." she said cheerfully

"Ah, Ashenpaw, good to see you." The old cat responded

"It's Tadpolepaw, Magnepelt." Tadpolepaw mewed, clenching her teeth.

"Ugh!" spat Magnepelt. "Not another cat who thinks they're someone else! Every cat in the clan appears to have an identity crisis!"  
"Right," mewed Tadpolepaw cautiously. "Anyway, I wanted to ask about Tansyfoot."  
"Honeypaw's mother?"  
Tadpolepaw let out an annoyed sigh, before regaining her composure. "Sorry Magnepelt, I meant my mother."

"Ah, Graytail. A good cat, she is, your mother" mewed Magnepelt. "What do you want to know?  
"Well, what was she like as a kit?" Tadpolepaw said curiously

"She was a little ball of energy, that one! Always playing with the other kits in the nursery, she had the energy outlast them all in a game."  
Tadpolepaw's interest peaked. Here it was, her chance to finally find out whether her hunch was correct!

"Tell me," she said, trying hard to contain her excitement. "She was close with the other kits in the nursery at the time. Was she so close to them that she called them her siblings?"  
"Of course not!" Magnepelt responded, looking confused at the question. "She would reserve that title for her actual siblings? And why are you asking?"

Tadpolepaw had to try very hard not to jump for joy. She was right! There was a conspiracy. But, oh this conspiracy, these secrets were not going to stay in the dark. She, Tadpolepaw was going to bring them out into the light of day and find out why her mother had lied to her.

"Tadpolepaw! Why are you asking!"

Tadpolepaw snapped out of her happiness and instantly went back to the conversation at hand.

"I just want to know more about my mother's life. Given that I'm now recently busy with my training, and she's always out on patrol, I thought it might be good to try and find out what she was like close to my age."  
"Fair," mewed Magnepelt. "Now, let me ask you a question? How many StarClan cats do you think live in that tree?"  
"Two?" tried Tadpolepaw

"Hmmmm," said Magnepelt turning her back to Tadpolepaw and her front to the tree. What she said next Tadpolepaw did not catch, as she was already heading back to the medicine den. The joy that she had felt on her realization that she was right had simmered down a bit. As she walked back, thoughts buzzed around in her head like hornets. But one underlying thought buzzed louder than them all: _A cat just confirmed that Tansyfoot did have siblings. But dare I trust the word of the craziest cat in the clan?_

* * *

 **Well, I actually have a legitimate excuse this time for taking so long. My mother had a seizure, and I was holding the fort, waiting with her for a week while she got better. We should be seeing regular updates soon.**

 **Reviews!**

 **ASJ7: Thank you! I hope Sparkstone is happy in StarClan!**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Weaselfoot living is definitely good. I think StarClan is a better place for Sparkstone.**

 **ExplodingQuasar: We'll be seeing more of Ashenpaw and how she is adjusting to still being an apprentice in the next couple of chapters. Well, it's not bad, of course! You can ship whoever you want. As for if it will actually happen…. Sorry no spoilers on that front! You're welcome for Gorsewater.**

 **Guest: Excellent. I'm glad I was able to capture Falconwing's personality well.**

 **That's it folks! Thanks for reading, thanks for the reviews, and we will see you next time!**

 **Thanks!  
**

 **\- Willowstorm**


	15. Chapter 14

**Hey, I'm not dead!**

* * *

A moon passed, but not much had changed. Ashenpaw was still distant and an apprentice, Magnepelt remained crazy. Tadpolepaw had finally returned to the apprentices den. Meanwhile, Reedpaw and Puddlepaw had become Reedstrike and Puddleshine. However, Willowstorm's kits, Jaykit, Robinkit, and Cardinalkit had all became apprentices, earning the names Jaypaw, Robinpaw, and Cardinalpaw. Unfortunately, Tansyfoot had been given Cardinalpaw as her apprentice. As such, with Tadpolepaw constantly busy with her own training, and Tansyfoot busy mentoring her own apprentice, Tadpolepaw was never able to find an OK time to talk to her about her missing siblings. So, for a while, life was normal. Almost boring.

Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw were sharing a frog when Owlheart and Honeypaw, who had been on a patrol together sat down beside them, bringing their own chaffinch to share.

"Hey Tadpolepaw." Owlheart said, letting out a purr as the two saw each other. Tadpolepaw let out a purr as well, and then let blinked in surprise as she felt Owlheart lick her head.

"How was the patrol?" asked Shadepaw.

"A waste of time, if you ask me," mewed Honeypaw. "We were checking the ThunderClan border and remarking the scent markers. Shouldn't have really bothered, as Seedstar knows Swiftstar is too kind hearted to ever launch an attack on us. Anyway, it was quiet. Nothing happened. We marked the border, and went home. Boring."  
There was a moment of awkward silence, before Owlheart let out a bemused mew.

"You're not going to tell them about the big news?" he asked

"What about the big news?" Tadpolepaw said, letting out a confused meow.

"I was hoping to surprise them, Owlheart!" Honeypaw crossly mewed, as she flicked a pebble at him. "Anyway, I got told that my warrior assessments are going to start tommorow. And I'll be doing them alongside Ashenpaw, as she is having her delayed assessments now."  
"That's good, I think?" said Shadepaw slowly. "You will be able to sit your warrior vigil together now, right? Neither of you will have to do it alone. Although, I do wonder why they did not have Ashenpaw did not have her assessment with Reedstrike and Puddleshine."  
"You think anyone, much less Ashenpaw, would want to do an assessment with those two annoying fur balls!" mewed Honeypaw incredulously

"Good point. I wonder if that is why Seedstar delayed her apprenticeship."

"You may be right." came a voice from behind them.

The four cats all turned to see Seedstar standing behind them.

"How long have you been standing there mother?" asked Owlheart  
"Long enough," mewed the clan leader quickly. "Now, I was hoping to speak to Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw."

Tadpolepaw shared a confused glance with her brother.

"It's time for the two of you to have your trip to the Moonstone. We'll be leaving in the early morning tommorow, so make sure you get a good amount of sleep tonight." With that, the clan leader sauntered away.

"Wow," mewed Shadepaw. "We are going to the moonstone! To talk to StarClan! To meet our warrior ancestors! This is so cool!"  
Tadpolepaw felt shock and surprise trickle down her spine. StarClan? The Moonstone? What would they say to her? Would they give her the advice? How to deal with Thornleap? Who, if they existed, were Tansyfoot's siblings? Could they tell her that? Or would StarClan do what she always heard about? Be vague, and just give a prophecy that she wouldn't figure out what it meant until after the events happened? Now, a trickle of nervousness went down her spine. StarClan were above her, more powerful than her. They were entirely unpredictable.

"Tadpolepaw?" Tadpolepaw blinked and shook herself. She saw Owlheart staring at her, a bit of concern in his eyes. "You alright?"  
"Yeah." mewed Tadpolepaw. "Uh, yeah. Just… StarClan. Wow."  
"Heh." purred Honeypaw. "I know how you feel. It's big. I mean, these guys are pretty much all powerful."

 _All powerful_ wondered Tadpolepaw _But are they? Where were they when cats like Thornleap needed stopping?_

"What happened when you guys visited the moonstone?" asked Shadepaw

"I don't think you are supposed to say." said Honeypaw quietly. Beside her, Owlheart nodded his head, before letting out a loud yawn.

"Great StarClan," he murmured "I best be getting some sleep. I'll see you all in the morning."

As he moved towards the warriors den, the apprentices headed to their own den, and before long, the three apprentices had slipped into a comfortable sleep.

* * *

"Tadpolepaw!"

Tadpolepaw jerked awake, her ears pricked and eyes scanning the dark den. They quickly fell onto Weaselfoot, who was standing at the entrance to the den.

"Weaselfoot, it's so early," Said Tadpolepaw blearily before letting out a giant yawn.

"Tadpolepaw, if you hadn't noticed, Ashenpaw, Cardinalpaw, Robinpaw, Shadepaw and Honeypaw are already out, and several patrols have already left. Don't know why you are so tired today."

"Didn't sleep well," muttered Tadpolepaw as she stretched and walked out of the den. "How can you, knowing you are going to meet your warrior ancestors?"  
"Fair," commented Weaselfoot. "Quickly get yourself something to eat, and then join me, Seedstar, Shadepaw and Frogeyes."  
Tadpolepaw nodded, quickly wolfed down a shrew, and then joined the patrol at the edge of the exit to the outside of the camp.

"Here's the thunderpath." mewed Seedstar as they stared across the gray barrier between them, highstones and the moonstone.

 _Well, that's obvious._ Tadpolepaw thought.

Wordlessly, the patrol crossed the thunderpath.

On the other side, Shadepaw stared off to a different side to the thunderpath, the part that bordered WindClan territory.

"Do you think we will have another battle?" he asked

"Yes," responded Seedstar, "but I hope it won't be for a long time."  
"Hope?" mewed Shadepaw "But when do you _think_ the next battle will happen?"  
But Seedstar seemed not to hear, as she had upped the pace.

By Sunhigh, the patrol had reached highstones, and Shadepaw and Tadpolepaw stared into the Mothermouth.

"Looks dark in there." commented Shadepaw

"Why do our ancestors have to choose really inconvenient places to meet with us?" wondered Tadpolepaw.

"Come on," sighed Seedstar as she led the patrol inside.

They walked in silence and in single file, through the dark and damp tunnel. Tadpolepaw could hardly see despite the small sprinkling of light which had somehow managed to simmer through the Mothermouth. Finally, after what could have either been moons or heartbeats, Tadpolepaw saw a glowing rock ahead of them. The Moonstone.

"Whoa." mewed Shadepaw, his mouth hanging open.

"Touch your nose to the stone, and then close your eyes, and try to get some sleep. StarClan will come to you when they are ready," instructed Seedstar

Tadpolepaw lent before jerking back as pain spread through her nose. _I don't think that is how you are supposed to do it_ she thought crossly. Fortunately, in the dark, no one had seen her mistake. Finally, Tadpolepaw curled up and lay down next to the Moonstone, and sleep took her far away.

* * *

Tadpolepaw was standing in a clearing in a dense forest.

"Hello?" she mewed loudly

"Greetings." a voice came from behind her.

Tadpolepaw spun around to see a patchy brown she cat standing behind her.

"Er, hi there," stammered Tadpolepaw. "I don't think I know you."

"Wouldn't expect you to," mewed the brown she cat shortly. "My name is Acaciastar."  
"Acaciastar," mewed Tadpolepaw softly staring at the former clan leader in awe "Wow, I get to be visited by a clan leader."  
"You do." commented Acaciastar

"So, uh what advice do you have for me?" asked Tadpolepaw.

"What do you want to know?"  
"We'll, I want to know what I should do about figuring out who Tansyfoot's siblings are, and what I should do about Thornleap. But what I don't want to happen is that all the advice I get is a vague prophecy."  
"What makes you think you would get a prophecy about you?" queried Acaciastar

"I don't know, in all of the nursery stories we were told as kits whenever the protagonist, the one who was struggling, went to the moonstone for advice all StarClan would tell him or her would be a vague prophecy."  
"You're not a protagonist, and you're not important enough to waste a prophecy on."  
Tadpolepaw blinked. "What?" she said, as her knees began to quiver ever so slightly.

"Not every struggle a cat goes through means they get to have their own legend, their own story, about them. You're not special, Tadpolepaw."

As Acaciastar said this a dense fog suddenly and quickly rolled in. A heartbeat later, and Tadpolepaw woke up, lying on the moonstone. Beside her, everyone was waking up.

Seedstar was first to her feet and quickly beckoned everyone else to follow suit.

"Come on," she briskly mewed. "Let's get back to our territory."

Tadpolepaw couldn't stop thinking about what Acaciastar had said as the patrol headed back to ShadowClan territory. She was entirely engrossed in her thoughts. StarClan wasn't helping her. She was on her own. This was problematic. In all the stories, the hero was always helped by StarClan! And yet Acaciastar had signaled that no help, not even a vague omen or a bizarre prophecy. She was on her own. The stars would not help her try to figure out what to do.

"Coming in to camp?" asked Shadepaw, snapping Tadpolepaw out of her thoughts. She hadn't realized that they were already at camp.

"I'll be there soon," mewed Tadpolepaw. "Just need to go make dirt first."  
"See you soon." mewed Shadepaw.

In truth, Tadpolepaw didn't need to make dirt. She needed to pace. She continued to do that, walking. She was sad that StarClan had abandoned her. She had to do it all on her own. It sucked.

After a while, Tadpolepaw finally found her self at the thunderpath, with ThunderClan territory on the other side. She stood there, for a while simply gazing over into the forest that ThunderClan called home. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes widened in shock. The scent hit her nose. Her brain froze up. Terror struck her.

"Oh no," she whispered, barely daring to breathe. She found herself quaking in fear…

* * *

 **So… Yeah. It's been over a month since I last managed to update this story. Sorry about that. Long story short, although you've heard it all before, is that life just got really busy, I had a huge lack of motivation to write.**

 **Reviews!**

 **Exploding Quasar: Lol. The timing! Tadpolepaw's personality before the attack was a curious and friendly, yet obnoxious and self-absorbed kit. Not too different from most kits really. Ashenpaw is a little snappish. She's become slightly more distant from the rest of the group for reasons. All explanations to come soon! As per your second review, well yeah. Life just got hectic, and I wasn't really feeling up to writing.**

 **I-really-hope-not: Yes, she is fine thank god. We were worried about her for a while. Thanks for your concern. And we will return to Tansyfoot's siblings before too long…**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Good question on whether she will trust Magnepelt. Time will tell.**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: Hah, yeah. I loved writing Magnepelt. She's a great character. And thanks for your concern about my mum, she appreciates it.**

 **That's it! We'll hopefully see you soon, stay cool, stay tuned!**

Thanks!

 **\- Willowstorm**


	16. Chapter 15

Had he seen her? Was she being stalked? Tadpolepaw's ears remained pricked and alert. Her fur was fluffed out, and she was crouching down, ready to defend herself if need be.

Tadpolepaw tasted the air again, and nothing changed. Thornleap's scent was in the air. She had hoped not to deal with him again, but Tadpolepaw had always known that hope was unrealistic at best.

Tadpolepaw, for the moment, remained still, but began to tremble in fear. And although Thornleap's scent remained completely fresh, meaning that he was still around, nothing happened.

He wasn't here for Tadpolepaw. Right?

Curiously, yet cautiously, Tadpolepaw tasted the air another time. This time she realized something which her fear had prevented her from realizing before; the wind, which was blowing in her face, was carrying Thornleap's scent to her.

Confirmation that whatever Thornleap was doing, Tadpolepaw was not part of his plan.

Carefully, Tadpolepaw got up from her defensive crouch and crept over to the side of the thunderpath. She was grateful for her black coat, meaning, as it was night, she would be slightly camouflaged. On the side of the thunderpath, Thornleap's scent was now blowing strongly in her face, but now another scent had joined his. Tadpolepaw did not recognize whose scent it was, only that it was ThunderClan. She could not see or hear Thornleap and his mysterious ThunderClan ally; only her nose told her that they were there. Disappointed that she couldn't find anything more out, Tadpolepaw headed back to camp.

* * *

Letting out a yawn, Tadpolepaw stretched and woke up the next day.

"Morning Tadpolepaw," mewed Shadepaw, who was sitting up in his nest. "Didn't see you come in last night."  
"Ah, well," responded Tadpolepaw. "I guess I wanted a walk."

Shadepaw looked at her incredulously. "You wanted to keep walking after we trekked all the way to the moonstone and back?"  
"Uhhhh... Yes?" Tadpolepaw weakly tried.

Shadepaw let out a sigh and shook his head. "Whatever Tadpolepaw. I've got training to do. I imagine that Weaselfoot wants you as well."

Tadpolepaw watched her brother leave before giving herself a quick wash, and heading out of the apprentices den herself.

"There you are," mewed Weaselfoot, walking up to Tadpolepaw. "Didn't want to wake you up, given your long trek last night."

"Thanks," purred Tadpolepaw. "So, what are we doing today?"

"Nothing too exciting, I'm afraid," responded Weaselfoot. "The elder's den needs clearing out. Fortunately, I managed to convince them all to go for a walk, so you won't have to work around them.

 _Fox dung!_ thought Tadpolepaw. _A chance missed to unravel the mystery around Tansyfoot's siblings!_ However, Tadpolepaw did not speak.

"One other thing," finished Weaselfoot. "I thought you might want some help, as well as possibly some company, so Ashenpaw will be helping you."

As Tadpolepaw walked over to the elder's den, thoughts buzzed around her head like bees, and, for the first time today, it wasn't about Thornleap.

 _Ashenpaw. I haven't spoken with her much since we rescued her from WindClan. I think she feels guilty. Maybe I can use this as a chance to rekindle our friendship._

After what felt like moons, Tadpolepaw arrived at the elder's den. Ashenpaw was already there, and had just beginning to clear out the old nests.

"Hi," mewed Tadpolepaw, feeling very awkward.

Ashenpaw glanced up, and then just stared at her for a moment. A moment of silent passed.

"Hi." Ashenpaw finally responded, several heartbeats too late.

"Where should I help out?" asked Tadpolepaw

"Let's take out all the moss and find a place to dump it," said Ashenpaw, in a voice that sounded very forced.

The two cats walked out of the camp, carrying mouthfuls of moss. Soon they found a sheltered spot behind some ferns, and the two cats spat out the moss. As they started to head back to camp, Tadpolepaw decided she was sick of the icy silence between them.

"Aren't you doing your warrior assessment today?" Tadpolepaw asked

"Honeypaw and I are doing almost all of our assessments together, but she strained her leg yesterday. I've already done most of my solo assessments, so I get stuck doing this."  
"How long is Honeypaw out?"

"A day or two." responded Ashenpaw shortly.  
Silence filled the space between the two of them.

As they entered the elder's den, Tadpolepaw decided that she could take it no longer.

"What have I done to annoy you, Ashenpaw! What has happened to us?"

Ashenpaw dropped the moss she was carrying and stared at the ground. Several heartbeats of silence followed. Then, finally, a small, squeaky voice that was not Ashenpaw's came out.

"You've done nothing Tadpolepaw. It's all me. I've done everything wrong."

"How? Ashenpaw, what is the matter?" said Tadpolepaw in disbelief, wanting to shake her friend.

"I stupidly wandered onto WindClan territory. I stupidly disobeyed the warrior code. I stupidly got caught. It's my stupid fault that a brave cat is dead. It's my stupid fault that ShadowClan were forced into a dumb battle that wasn't needed. And you, Tadpolepaw. You didn't get to see yourself when you wandered into WindClan camp to get me out of there. You looked bad, Tadpolepaw. Blood was dripping from your belly, from your chest. Your face and muzzle fur was soaked with blood. What if you had a few more cuts and scratches on you, Tadpolepaw? You could have died, and it would of been, my stupid fault. You're better off without me, Tadpolepaw."

Tadpolepaw stared at her friend in shock. How could she say such things? Everything that had happened, was the fault of Thornleap, not her! But, a small, snide, voice in her head spoke different.

 _She was stupid,_ the snide voice went. _You wouldn't had spent half a moon in the medicine den. Sparkstone would be alive. You wouldn't have had to go up against Thornleap. Everything that had happened a moon and a half ago would not have happened. The battle, your injuries, everything. In a sense, she's destroying your friendship, not you._

No, No. Tadpolepaw pushed the thoughts of the snide voice away from her. Ashenpaw needed her, and she needed Ashenpaw.

"That's.. That's OK." stammered Tadpolepaw, not knowing how to respond to Ashenpaw's rant. "Every one makes mistakes. You are a valued friend of mine. I am much better off with you. And I miss the bubbly, the happy you. I don't like seeing you like this. I don't want to lose you. Can we repair this friendship, together?"

Ashenpaw didn't answer immediately. Instead, she just stared. Her blue eyes simply bored holes in Tadpolepaw. Tadpolepaw could almost see all of the thoughts racing through her. If only she could touch them, get rid of the ones telling her to not accept her offer of friendship, make sure that Ashenpaw made the right choice. But Tadpolepaw was left shifting her weight from leg to leg, waiting uncomfortably for Ashenpaw to make her choice.

Finally, after what felt like moons, Ashenpaw opened her mouth.

"I-I-I," was all that came out. A small stutter. Tadpolepaw felt like screaming. Why was her friend so reluctant to come back from her self imposed exile!

"Lets finish making the nests," Ashenpaw said, closing down the conversation. Tadpolepaw nodded, before letting out a sad sigh. What was wrong with her friend?

* * *

That night, Tadpolepaw relayed her experiences with Ashenpaw to Owlheart. She would have told Shadepaw and Honeypaw as well, but Honeypaw was still in the medicine den, resting, and Shadepaw had ended up being selected for the evening border patrol.

"So," said Tadpolepaw, as she finished up her story. "No commitment. We don't know whether she wants to become friends with us again, or whether, for some reason, wants to isolate herself from us."

"Not good." commented Owlheart.

"You're her brother, Owlheart. Can't you do anything to convince her?" pleaded Tadpolepaw.

"I've tried, Tadpolepaw," said Owlheart sorrowfully. "She won't even listen to me."

Tadpolepaw sighed, and put her head on her paws.

"This sucks." said Owlheart.

Tadpolepaw nodded her head in agreement.

* * *

That night, as Tadpolepaw tossed and turned in a vain attempt to get to sleep, another problem resurfaced in her mind. Thornleap's influence in ThunderClan. How on earth was she to counteract this? There was a gathering the next night, where she might be able to tell a ThunderClan cat. But what cat would believe a story in which she had no evidence?

The following night, the full moon gleamed in the sky as the ShadowClan patrol for the gathering left camp.

Neither Shadepaw nor Honeypaw had been picked to go, but Tadpolepaw and Owlheart had.

"I take it Ashenpaw didn't say anything to you today?" asked Owlheart

"Nope," sighed Tadpolepaw. "I don't understand why she won't talk to me. Maybe tommorow."

"Hopefully," mewed Owlheart in a voice that did not sound very hopeful.

A moment of silence passed.

"If I can change the subject," said Tadpolepaw. "I was wondering whether you know any ThunderClan apprentices. If so, do you think you might be able to introduce me to them?"  
Owlheart stared at his feet before answering.

"I was hoping we could have some together time at the gathering," he mumbled quietly.

"Uhhhhh," said Tadpolepaw, not quite knowing how to respond. "Isn't the gathering the set time where we meet cats from other clans?"

"True, True." mewed Owlheart quickly. "I don't really know many of the apprentices from ThunderClan, but I have talked with their medicine cat, Hazelheart from time to time. She has an apprentice, called Lichenpaw, I think. I should be able to introduce you to him."

"Thanks," purred Tadpolepaw

A short while later, the ShadowClan patrol arrived at Fourtrees. Thankfully, a whiff of the scent in the clearing told Tadpolepaw that ThunderClan were the only ones here.

"There's Hazelheart," mewed Owlheart, pointing out a brown she-cat with darker tabby swirls on her pelt. Tadpolepaw followed Owlheart over to her.

"Hello Hazelheart." mewed Owlheart, as he wandered over, tail up in the air.

"Hello Owlheart," came the warm voice of Hazelheart, before giving Owlheart's shoulder a quick lick. "How runs the prey in ShadowClan?"

"Fast," purred Owlheart. "But not fast enough to get away from us. Anyway, this is my friend, Tadpolepaw. She was hoping to meet some ThunderClan apprentices, and I couldn't help but think of Lichenpaw."  
"Who said my name?" came a new voice. Tadpolepaw turned to see a light brown tabby apprentice walking up to her. Immediately, for no rational reason, Tadpolepaw felt unnerved.

"Hello," Tadpolepaw mewed. "I'm Tadpolepaw. I've been hoping to meet you."

"Greetings." Lichenpaw responded. "As I am sure you know, my name is Lichenpaw."  
Something about this cat just didn't sit right with Tadpolepaw. What was it about him? She had barely spoken to him, yet she already didn't feel comfortable around him?

"Would you like to wander around Fourtrees?" Tadpolepaw asked

Lichenpaw nodded, and the pair left Owlheart and Hazelheart.

As soon as Tadpolepaw felt comfortable that no cat would hear their conversation, she turned to Lichenpaw.

"You have a problem in ThunderClan," she hissed

Lichenpaw sat down on the grass.

"Go on," he mewed.

"You have a problem in ThunderClan," she hissed. "WindClan's deputy, Thornleap is meeting with at least one of your cats."  
Lichenpaw stared for a moment before commenting. "Now that is an accusation and a half." His voice sounded just as calm, and Tadpolepaw remained unnerved.

"Doesn't make it false." responded Tadpolepaw's"

"Oh?" mewed Lichenpaw. "Then tell me, what reason do I have to trust you?"

Tadpolepaw found herself caught off guard. She quickly racked her brain. What reason could she offer for him to trust her? Her story sounded ridiculous, and she could offer no evidence? How could she get him to trust her?"

After a long moment without Tadpolepaw saying anything, Lichenpaw spoke again.

"Tell me, ShadowClan," he said, his voice now having a hard edge to it, and Tadpolepaw could now see his claws beginning to extend as fear raced through her veins. "What reason do I have to trust you?"

 **Welcome Lichenpaw to Tadpolefur's struggle. He will be appearing a lot more from now on.**

 **Reviews!**

 **A Sky of Blazing Stars: Yes, having Acaciastar be as harsh as possible aim. Really kills me to throw more trouble at Tadpolepaw, but I hate the overused cliche of "StarClan supports the protagonist, but only gives a vague prophecy." Tadpolepaw and Shadepaw are nearly three moons through their training at this point. Crystalstar's kits are apprentices, although I'm not sure when exactly we will see them.**

 **SomeoneI'mSure: As I said, I am so sick and tired of the "Distant yet still supporting StarClan" cliche. And you were right about Thornleap! Well done!**

 **ExplodingQuasar: And it sure is a good thing that I am alive! Glad you enjoyed the chapter. Really? In the books, while the clans were still in the old forest, they apprentices always visited the moonstone, although that tradition was abandoned when they moved to the lake. Anyway, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint either.**

 **Mothstar of CloudClan: Thank you! I'm glad that you are enjoying it. Can neither confirm nor deny your theories.**

 **That's it! Thank you to everyone who reviewed!**

 **\- Willowstorm**


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